


Gathering Storm

by sheisamelody



Category: Water Rats
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:19:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28230783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheisamelody/pseuds/sheisamelody
Summary: Following a close call on Rachel's life, a gathering storm of anger inside Jack reaches breaking point.
Relationships: Rachel Goldstein/Jack Christey





	1. The Incident

**Author's Note:**

> An alternate ending to the episode ‘A Day at the Office’ because I am still in denial. :P
> 
> Also, I am slowly starting to post my fics from fanfiction.net on here, in case I ever lose access to my fanfiction account (I am sheisamelody on fanfiction too)!

* * *

Rachel stopped the car and put it into park, before apprehensively looking out the window, out at the White Bay Power Station in front of her. Light rain was falling and the darkness that fell over the derelict looking building made her shudder a little. Jack too was a bit put out by the situation as well, but as the senior detective, he still made a tentative decision to search the area. Rachel followed, she wasn't about to argue with him. The whole day had been shitty enough as it was, she didn't want to include an argument with Jack to that, she thought.

On the first level of the power station, she met up with Jack after searching one area while he searched another. They both let out relieved sighs when they saw each other.

"Let's get the hell outta here, Rach," Jack said, putting his gun back in his holster as Rachel did the same. Any other time, he would have let Rachel go down the stairs first, but for some reason he went instead. It was an unconscious (i.e: stupid) decision that he was soon going to be hating himself for.

Rachel was about to go down the stairs herself when she heard a few footsteps coming from behind her. She turned around, seeing a man they had in at work earlier in the day - Immigration Officer Graham Denton. Recognising her too, Graham appeared to panic. He picked up the first thing he saw - a piece of shattered glass. And even though he didn't really know what he wanted to do with it, he paced towards Rachel, though it all happened in slow motion.

Somehow, through the confusion of what was going on, Rachel managed to react and she pulled her gun back out, aiming it at his chest. She froze, the gun surprisingly steady in her right hand. He froze too, his hand and the piece of glass he was holding was about 15 centimetres away from her stomach.

" _Jack_!" Rachel called out to him urgently, trying her best to keep an eye on Denton as well as where his hand was.

Almost at the bottom of the stairs, Jack stopped in his tracks, sensing the urgency and shakiness in her voice. He spun around, grabbed his gun from its holster and headed back up the stairs as fast as he could. When he reached the first level, Jack was instantly alarmed by what he saw. Not just from seeing and recognising the Immigration Officer, but _what_ he was pointing at Rachel and how unbelievably close it was to her body. Jack cocked his gun, holding it directly at the man's temple, where drops of anxious sweat were slowly forming. "Get away from her, Denton," Jack said sternly, through gritted teeth, "NOW!" he added, his voice loud and full of rage when he didn't move as quickly as Jack wanted him to.

Graham took a few steps back and held his hands up, open palmed, dropping the piece of glass at the same time. He was clearly shaking, frightened and perhaps shocked, by his own actions.

Jack didn't care though, maintaining his stance and focus.

Feeling a bit safer by this stage, Rachel had lowered her gun, breathing heavily through her mouth. Her eyes were darting back and forth between Jack and Denton, wondering when the stand still was going to come to an end. She didn't have to wait long, because in front of their eyes, Graham turned and ran away before either of them had any kind of chance to react.

"Piece of shit," Jack growled, not bothering to follow him or fire his gun. They knew who he was, where he worked and could easily find out where he lived, he thought. Jack instead turned to Rachel, obviously concerned for her, as he put his gun away. When both his hands were free, he pulled her towards him and held her in his arms, "Are you okay?"

She slowly nodded, feeling grateful that he was there, "Yeah... I think so."

"Geez Rach, you're shaking," Jack noted, holding onto her tighter, "I'm sorry."

Rachel frowned a little, wondering what he had to be sorry for. She pulled away gently and took hold of his hand, squeezing it, "Let's _actually_ get out of here this time."

Jack managed a small smile, although inside, he could feel his blood beginning to boil. He gestured for Rachel to head down the stairs first this time, and she let go of his hand, following his silent instructions.

—

The drive back to the Water Police Headquarters was an unusually quiet one. Apart from a few choice words from Jack to Helen on the radio. He wasn't having a go at Helen per se, he was actually more angry with himself.

Rachel noticed the irritation in his voice and body language, but for now she didn't say anything because she thought and hoped he would be calmer by the time they got back to the station.

She was wrong.

As soon as they walked through the door, the anger in Jack showed its ugly head again as Rachel made her way up stairs without him, "Helen, I want an arrest warrant out on Graham Denton for attempted murder. I don't care what it takes. He needs to be found and charged."

Helen looked a little dumbfounded, and opened her mouth as if to start saying something when Jack interrupted, rather abruptly and forceful.

"He almost _stabbed_ Rachel. I want him charged!"

"He what—" a shocked Helen began to say, but Jack huffed up the stairs with loud footsteps. She stood still for a few moments, trying to make sense of what he had just told her.

Upstairs, Rachel was sitting at her desk when Jack walked in, visibly pissed off. Rachel tried her best to calm him down, but as soon as she spoke she was unable to find the right words, "Jack, nothing happened to me… it's okay…" Rachel stopped when Jack gave her a sceptical look.

"Come on Rachel," he stared at her, "You and I both know what could have happened to you. What _almost_ happened to you," Jack's eyes left Rachel briefly as he saw Helen enter the office, confusion was still written all over her face but there was also concern too.

"What exactly happened at the power station tonight?"

Rachel sighed as softly as she could; she didn't even want to talk about it anymore, let alone listen to someone else talk about it.

Jack looked back over at Rachel, and upon realising what she must have been thinking, he decided not to go over the incident again, "I told you downstairs, Helen. Can we just get an arrest warrant prepared for Denton? Like ASAP?"

Helen raised her hands up to chest height, palms facing Jack, as if she was surrendering. "Okay, but it _is_ going to have to wait until tomorrow morning when we're back at work. I'm going home and you two should do the same. You've been at work for almost 15 hours… I think that's quite enough for today," she gave Rachel a brief, sympathetic smile before she quietly exited through the door closest to her own office.

Jack watched Helen leave and then turned his attention to Rachel, "I've got that bottle of red, Rach, how about we take it back to mine and crack it open. Have that talk about us," he said, putting on a voice that seemed to indicate he had put the past hour behind him, although he hadn't at all. He was still mulling it over in his mind - the what if's. It was those 'what if's' that were pissing him off.

Rachel, somewhat surprising herself, didn't hesitate or even think about her response, "Sure, sounds good to me Jack."

—

The following morning, Rachel woke up in Jack's bed. Again. She could see the sun starting to rise through the small gaps between the window and curtains. Rolling over onto her side, she saw that Jack was already awake, lying on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling. He turned his head to face her upon hearing her move, smiling, "Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay Jack," Rachel reached her hand out and placed it on his chest, resting it there lightly, "And you? Do you feel like you have calmed down a bit now?"

"No, not really," Jack answered her honestly, sighing, "But… being with you last night… it was good. And I'm not _just_ talking about the sex."

Rachel rolled her eyes, mostly at his last comment. She was still worried, however. Rachel had known Jack for a long enough time now to know that when he was angry, especially at himself, he was the kind of person who could just snap at any moment.

—

Despite _most_ of their colleagues knowing about their relationship, Jack and Rachel arrived at work separately an hour and a half later. As soon as Jack walked into the police station, Helen informed him of the news he wanted to hear; the magistrate had approved their request to put out an arrest warrant for Graham Denton.

"I still want you to write a brief statement about what happened last night," Helen then said to Jack, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs making a face, "Just get it over and done with and hand it to Jeff. I've told Rachel to do the same." She kept a watchful eye on Jack as he disappeared up the stairs and from her sight. Like Rachel, Helen knew there was every chance he was going to be like a ticking time bomb in this situation, and what he could do in that state of mind concerned her.

Upstairs in the detective's office, Rachel and Mick were sitting at their respective desks in silence. Jack stood still, just past in the doorway, looking at Mick's back through slit eyes, "And where the hell were _you_ last night, Mick?"

Upon hearing Jack's voice, Rachel pursed her lips together and started shaking her head, as if to say 'don't ask him that' or 'don't start'.

Mick spun around in his chair, facing the older detective, "Having a go at me too, hey Jack? I've already had Jeff and Helen on my back this morning. And guess what, I'm not about to explain myself to you as well."

Annoyed, Jack shook his head as he finally sat down at his desk. He wasn't going to put up with crap responses like that, especially now, "Well _guess what_ Mick, you're going to have to tell me eventually. Because leaving work in the middle of the day and not telling anyone where you were going, is _not_ on. And switching off your phone so we can't get in contact with you… not on either."

"I didn't switch my phone off Jack."

"Oh okay, so who did then? Santa Claus?"

Mick let out a heavy sigh, now he was getting annoyed, "Because you're just bloody perfect, are you? Jack Christey, the perfect cop," he defiantly changed the subject, raising his voice ever so slightly, making his annoyance obvious. "Sleeping with your work partner - sorry Rachel -" he quickly added in apologetically, "That's so impartial, is it? You come in here, all cocky, and have a go at me, yet here _you_ are… in a relationship with Rachel."

"No one knew about it until yesterday, so what's that got to do with anything?" it was Jack's turn to raise his voice, "Changing the subject doesn't change what happened yesterday _and_ last night."

"I'll tell you what it has, or doesn't have, to do with, Jack," Mick stood up, his voice even louder. It was almost starting to feel like Rachel wasn't in the room as the tension between the two men escalated, "You have _feelings_ … _strong feelings_ … for your work partner. How does that help any case you investigate, huh? How does it? This isn't about me not being available yesterday, this is all you… pissed off about what went on at the power station!"

Jack got up and walked around to the front of his desk. He was so close to yelling at Mick when Rachel too stood up and came between them. It looked like they were about to punch each other. "Alright that's enough," Rachel's voice firm, but she wasn't loud, "Jack… outside," she hurriedly ushered him out the door.

Mick didn't say a thing as they walked out. He just sat down heavily and stared meaninglessly at the mound of paperwork on his desk.

—

Outside, the harbour was sparkling in the winter sunshine. It was the perfect day, weather-wise anyway. Jack walked towards the hand rails of the balcony and turned around, facing Rachel, "Sorry, Rach… that was… awful. I'm obviously not in the mood for excuses."

"Obviously!" she smiled a little, taking a few steps towards him, "Look, I think you just need some fresh air, and maybe some peace and quiet. So I will leave you out here for a bit, okay?"

Jack nodded, thankful; she was becoming his voice of reason.

Rachel headed inside, and although probably not the best idea, left him with his thoughts. When she got back to the detective's office, Helen was talking to Mick, "You two need to sort out whatever it is that's going on," Rachel heard her finish saying, "Ah, Rachel. Sophie, the young woman from yesterday… her mother will be here soon. Did you want to talk to her? Or I could get Tayler, or someone else– "

"No, no. It's fine. I'll do it," Rachel said adamantly. It was one of the worst parts of the job, but for some reason, she wanted to be the one to tell her what happened to her daughter.

"Okay," Helen softly answered, not before glancing over at Jack's empty desk. She didn't ask where he was, however, and she left the office.

Rachel let out a sharp sigh. It was going to be another one of those days, she thought, looking over at Mick for no particular reason.

Mick sensed her eyes on him and swivelled around in his chair. He didn't really know if he should say anything, but for some reason, ended up blurting out, "Jack's in love with you, you know that Rachel."

"Oh Mick," Rachel looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed, "Can you please shut up about th–"

"Why else would he react the way he did?" Mick teased, grinning at her from ear to ear.

—

Although Jack was partly enjoying the sunshine and harbour views, he was still on edge and quite fed up. He made the decision to go downstairs, remaining outside and trying to keep out of sight of other officers. He then got in his car and drove to the Immigration Office. "Where's Graham Denton?" he demanded of the woman at the reception area, flashing his police badge briefly.

"Oh he's not in today. He called in sick," she answered, taken aback by his rudeness.

"How bloody surprising," Jack muttered sarcastically under his breath, "Okay, I need his home address," he then said in a relatively normal voice.

The woman gave Jack a look of disapproval, "I… I can't give out that information, not even to the police. It's against–"

Jack stepped towards the desk; he was trying desperately hard not to snap. "There is an arrest warrant out on Denton for attempted murder. I need his address _now_."

The woman flinched at Jack's harsh tone. Almost desperately, she began typing on the computer keyboard, trying to bring up Graham's address as fast as she could. She wasn't comfortable with Jack being there, or with the way he was speaking to her. When she finally found the address, she wrote it down on a piece of paper and handed it to Jack.

Grabbing the piece of paper, Jack mumbled, "Thanks," and with meaning, he turned around and paced quickly out the door.

—

Back at the Water Police Station, Rachel decided it was time to go see Jack, thinking he'd now had enough time to calm down. When she got outside, Rachel immediately saw that he wasn't there, so she headed up to the rooftop. "Shit…" she cursed when she saw he wasn't there either.

"Jack isn't out there," Rachel worriedly told Mick when she came back, "He's not outside."

"Wait, what? Where on earth would he go?" Mick wondered, trying to think. He raised his index finger when he had an idea, "I'll go check if his car's still here… and maybe see if anyone has seen him."

Rachel rubbed on her hands onto her face, groaning as she did so. She hoped that Jack just decided to go for a drive, rather than do something stupid. Although her gut instinct thought it was more likely to be the latter.

"What's up, Rachel?" Helen poked her head into the office, spotting the detective with her head on her hands, "I just read your statement… I don't think you should be here today."

Rachel lifted her head, immediately seeing Helen's concerned face, "I'm fine."

"Jack's car isn't in the carpark," Mick hurried into the room, stopping in his tracks when he saw Helen. He stood still momentarily, looking at Rachel, who was glaring back at him, not quite knowing what to say.

The office was silent until Helen finally exclaimed, rambling, "What do you mean Jack's car isn't in the carpark? Why wouldn't it be there? What's going on?"

Rachel's eyes widened as she realised where Jack may have gone, "Graham Denton…" was all she said at first, "Shit. He's probably g–"

"I just received a phone call from someone at the Immigration Office," Jeff interrupted, his voice firm, "Apparently a male detective was there no more than 10 minutes ago, demanding to know where Graham Denton lives. Does anyone want to guess _who_ that male detective was?"

Rachel quickly stood up, ready to leave.

"No, Rachel," Helen pointed for her to sit back down, "Mick and I will go."

"Here's the address," Jeff handed Helen a piece of paper, "Get Jack back here. With or without Denton."

A little annoyed at not being able to go with them, Rachel sighed, watching as Helen and Mick quickly left. She hoped they got there before Jack did anything regrettable.

* * *

_To be continued._


	2. The Arrest

* * *

Arriving at Graham Denton's single storey terrace house in Leichhardt, Jack grabbed his gun, got out of the car and made his way to the front door. He wanted to break the door down without any warning, but first decided to slam a closed fist onto it several times, yelling out, "Graham Denton, open up! It's the police!"

When there was no response after about 20 seconds, a frustrated and impatient Jack jiggled the handle to see if, by any chance, it was unlocked. It wasn't, so Jack made the decision to do what he was going to do to begin with - break the door down. Jack didn't have a search warrant but he didn't care. An arrest warrant was enough for him.

Inside the house, it was surprisingly clean Jack noticed, whilst remaining completely focused on what he was there to do. "DENTON!" he yelled as loudly as he could, entering the main bedroom, gun gripped tightly in his right hand. The bed was neatly made and the curtains were open; certainly not the sign of someone who was supposed to be unwell.

Jack was about to leave the bedroom when he heard a noise coming from one side of the built-in wardrobe. He frowned, quietly walking towards it. Raising his gun, he pulled the sliding door open in one quick motion, immediately seeing Graham Denton cowered in the corner in an upright foetal position.

Rage swept over Jack as soon as he saw him again, and he pulled the whimpering man up off the ground by his shirt and roughly threw him onto the bed. "You're under arrest. You're not obliged to say or do anything, unless you wish to do so. But whatever you say may be used against you as evidence in court," Jack said through his teeth, trying his hardest to refrain from beating the crap out of him. Jack pulled Graham's left arm and yanked it behind his back, restraining him while he got his handcuffs out, "Make one move and I'll break your bloody arm."

"Ow, ow… okay, okay, okay…" Graham stopped squirming, hoping that Jack would release, or at least loosen, his grip. Jack didn't however, as he clicked the handcuffs tightly around Graham's wrists. He then yanked him up off the bed roughly, "Move!"

" _Jack!_ " came Mick's voice, followed by several fast moving footsteps.

"In here!" Jack called out, and moments later, was surprised to see both Mick _and_ Helen standing in the doorway. "Get him out of my sight," Jack pushed Denton towards Mick, before sitting on the bed with a heavy, long-winded sigh.

Mick then started to exit the house with Graham, pulling him along by his arm and saying firmly, "Come on."

"He hurt me…"

"Tell someone who cares."

Helen, meanwhile, stayed with Jack, looking down at him through empathetic brown eyes. She didn't quite know what to say to him at first, so she just sat down on the bed next to him in silence, almost as if she was waiting for him to speak.

Jack glanced over at her, an eyebrow raised, wondering why she was still there, "You're not going with Mick?"

"No, I think he'll be okay taking Denton back to the station by himself," Helen replied with a quick shake of her head, "I'm more concerned about you."

"Don't be."

—

Rachel had only just finished talking to Sophie's mother when she heard Mick's voice echo down the corridor, "Alright Denton, through that door there. Senior Constable Sykes will be sitting in with you for now, so don't try anything."

Rachel didn't move. She couldn't. It was like she was stuck in the one spot, frozen, almost scared that if she got up from her desk, she'll see the man who almost stabbed her. The thought of that freaked her out a little. Seconds later, Mick entered the office by himself, glancing over at Rachel, "Jack got him," he informed her with a quiet voice.

"Where's Jack now?"

Mick was about to reply when, as if on cue, a heavy-footed Jack walked into the office followed closely by Helen, who spoke straight away, " _We'll_ be speaking to Denton," she pointed at herself and Mick, and when Jack looked like he was going to protest, Helen added, "I don't want you involved in the interview, Jack. You're too close to this. Plus you're lucky he doesn't want you charged with forceful arrest."

"I'm watching," Jack said adamantly; he wasn't letting go of it anytime soon.

"Okay yes, you can watch. Nothing more," Helen told him, leaving the office with Mick.

Even though he understood, Jack shook his head. He looked over at Rachel, who was staring back at him, "Are you going to be alright if I go and listen in on the interview?" he asked caringly, walking over to her desk. She nodded in reply but didn't say anything, seeing Jack smile at her briefly before he left the office and made his way to the viewing room.

Mick and Helen had already begun the interview process when Jack started to watch on. Through the window and open blinds, his angry eyes were fixed on Graham Denton.

"Mr Denton, you were arrested this morning due to an incident at White Bay Power Station last night. Can you talk us through what happened, please?" Helen was in the middle of saying, completely professional in her approach.

Graham was quite obviously nervous. He refused to look either Helen or Mick in the eye. Instead, he stared down at the table as he spoke, "I don't… I don't know. I just…" he stuttered his words, unable to complete a full sentence.

"You almost stabbed Rachel, you fucking dickhead," Jack snarled to himself, disappointed that he couldn't be heard from the viewing room, " _That's_ what happened."

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we? What you were doing at the power station in the first place?" Helen said, watching him struggle. Although she was unsure if he really was struggling, or if he was pretending to.

For the first time since arriving at the Water Police station, Graham lifted his head a little and looked directly at Helen, "I was at the power station to meet Alex Grenville… I saw him arrive in a car but… I didn't actually meet up with him… he disappeared."

"Why were you meeting Alex there? What's your involvement in the passport scam?" Mick asked firmly.

Graham looked back down at the table again, almost sheepishly.

"Do I have to repeat the question?"

He shook his head, "No you don't have to. I am involved in– I make the fake passports. I work for Immigration so it is easy enough for me to do. Sometimes I help arrange the drop offs… like last night at the power station. And sometimes someone else… someone else arranges the drop offs."

"And do you know who that someone is?" Mick then asked.

With his eyes still focused on the table, he shook his head again, "A woman named Charlie. That's all I know about her."

"Okay," Helen sighed, realising that while they may get a bit more information from Graham about the passport scam then they did from Grenville, they still weren't going to get a lot. "What happened after you were meant to meet Alex? Talk us through that."

"I was about to leave when I saw her… Detective… Goldstein…" Graham finally continued after a long pause, stuttering again, "She saw me too… We… um… recognised each other. I don't know…" he shrugged, almost giving up.

In the viewing room, Jack began pacing back and forth; he was so close to barging into the interview room and tearing Denton a new one. As if he wasn't angry enough already, hearing the 'reason' why Denton was going to stab Rachel really pissed him off.

—

Clearly flustered, Jack went back to the detectives office before the interview was over. Every second he spent watching and hearing Graham Denton speak left him seething. Rachel looked up upon hearing him enter and straight away she noticed the angry look on his face, "Didn't go well I take it?"

Jack groaned somewhat loudly, rubbing his hands over his face, "Bloody unbelievable," he sat down in the chair in front of Rachel's desk, "He's a little dweeb. I don't think you even want to know his reason for attempting to stab you."

Rachel's voice became very monotonous as she said, "Oh, I think I can guess."

A little surprised by her rather blank response, Jack stared across at her, "And that doesn't bother you? I mean, shit, it bothers me!"

She shrugged half-heartedly, sighing, "I don't know. I think I'm still a bit shocked by it more than anything."

The expression on Jack's face softened. He'd been so caught up in his own anger and rage that he almost didn't realise how Rachel must have felt, "I'm sorry," he said quietly, his head held down a little.

"What? No, Jack. You don't have anything to be sorry for," Rachel adamantly shook her head a few times, "None of this is your fault."

" _I'm_ the senior detective here. _I'm_ the one who made the stupid decision to search the power station without backup there," Jack quickly became annoyed at himself once more as the tone of his voice firmed, "We should have waited… I don't know what I would have done if something happened to you."

Smiling, Rachel reached out her hand and placed it on top of his for a few seconds. Even though they still hadn't really talked about their relationship, there was almost a silent decision made between them about what they wanted to do. "Stop blaming yourself," she told him in a half-whisper, taking her hand away when she saw Jeff about to enter the office.

"The passport scam investigation has been handed over to the Feds," he informed them, standing in the doorway.

"That should have been done yesterday," Jack muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for Jeff to hear.

Jeff didn't even bother answering Jack. Instead, he simply said, "And Rachel, I've organised for you to see the police psychologist a bit later today, alright? You too, Jack. You both need to talk to someone about what happened last night. _And_ I don't want to hear any arguments from either of you," Jeff then left before either of them had the chance to reply.

Jack rolled his eyes. If there was one thing he did _not_ want to do, it was talk to a complete stranger about how he was feeling.

—

After lunch, Rachel was the first to be summoned to a spare room on the ground floor of the station. Ordinarily, the police psychologist sessions were held at the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills, but Jeff decided that everyone would be better off if the psychologist came to them. He felt Rachel and Jack would feel more comfortable and relaxed if they were in their own work environment.

"Come in and have a seat, Rachel. My name is Troy," the psychologist said in a calm, friendly manner. He smiled at her warmly, pointing to the chair opposite him.

"Thanks."

Once she was seated, he began, "I had a brief chat with Chief Inspector Hawker earlier today and he explained, not in any detail I might add, why he thought you would need to see me. So, in your own time, I'd like you to tell me what happened yesterday."

"From the beginning or…?"

"Wherever you'd like to start from. It's entirely up to you."

Rachel took a deep breath, taking a moment to compose herself. This wasn't going to be easy, she thought. "We were given a job yesterday… Jack– Detective Christey and I… which at first seemed like it wasn't going to take us too long at all. Until we discovered it was actually a passport scam involving a water taxi driver," she sighed, pausing to think about her next words.

Troy nodded silently, letting her continue.

"Later on in the day, well it was night time by then actually… we followed the water taxi driver to the power station at White Bay, but when we got there he was no where to be seen, his car was empty," she explained, her voice began to tremble slightly, "Jack decided we should search the place, while backup was still on its way."

"Jack being the senior officer out of the two of you?" Troy wanted to confirm.

Rachel nodded, "That's right," she paused, digressing slightly, "I don't blame Jack for the decision. I would have done the same if I was him," she paused again, this time for a bit longer. "As we were leaving… I heard a noise, footsteps, behind me. I turned around and saw Graham Denton… he's an immigration officer we'd talked to here at the station earlier."

"What did you think when you saw him?"

"I was a bit confused, I guess," Rachel sighed, shrugging her shoulders loosely, "I didn't expect to see him there. I'm not sure why but I didn't think too much of it though. The next bit… it kinda happened really fast but also in slow motion at the same time… if that's possible," she paused, wanting to apologise for stopping and starting.

"It's okay, take your time Rachel," Troy said reassuringly, knowing that it would be hard for her.

"He… ahh… picked something up and started coming towards me," she finally continued, shakily, "I didn't see that it was a jagged piece of glass until he was closer to me… somehow I got my gun out and pointed it at him… before he did anything. But he got pretty close to stabbing me. I called out to Jack, who I think was near the bottom of the stairs by then. And he came running back up. He was, and has been, pretty angry about it all. Probably too angry."

Troy nodded, deciding to change the subject because he could see and hear that Rachel was quite distressed, "How would you describe your relationship with your colleagues? I ask this because as soon as I spoke to Jeff this morning, I could tell he was concerned."

"Pretty good," Rachel's voice turned back to a relatively normal tone, "They're a good group of people here."

"And what about Detective Christey? Jack. How would you describe your relationship with him? You said that he has been particularly angered by what happened. Why do you think that is?"

Rachel clearly hesitated. She didn't even know how to begin answering that question. Instead, she asked, "This is all confidential, right? I mean, you're not going to tell anyone what I say in here…"

Troy shook his head, "No, I couldn't even if I wanted to. This is just between you and me."

Rachel hesitated again, but this time she tried to answer as truthfully as she possibly could, "Jack… I think he feels responsible," she paused for what felt like the hundredth time, "We were… _are_ … I don't know… together. I don't know. It's very complicated with him."

"Together as in a sexual relationship?" Troy queried, although he wasn't judging her by any means.

"Yes."

He nodded slowly, almost in realisation, asking, "Do you think that explains why he's reacted the way he has? When two people are in a relationship, there's often some pretty strong feelings involved."

"I guess so."

—

While waiting for his turn with the psychologist, Jack got around to handing in his statement to Jeff. Just writing it all down made him fill up with anger all over again. He headed down stairs half-heartedly, bumping into Tommy along the way.

"Sorry mate," Tommy said to him.

Jack didn't say a word as he continued on his way. He wasn't in the mood for 'cheery' Tommy. Rachel was shutting the door behind her when Jack got there. "How did you go?" he asked her, "Was it okay?"

"Yeah Jack, it was okay," she answered, putting a hand on his arm, "Just be honest."

As Jack nodded, the door to the makeshift room being used for the psychology sessions opened, and Troy stepped out, "You must be Jack," he said with a friendly smile, "I'm Troy, come this way."

Jack shared a brief, half-second glance with Rachel before he followed Troy into the room. Upon entering and sitting down, Jack was the first to speak right off the bat, "I gotta say, I don't really know why I have to do this. I'm not the one who was almost stabbed."

"No, but your partner was and you were with her when it happened," Troy spoke softly and rather calmly, sitting down opposite Jack. "And that actually affects both of you. Albeit in different ways," Jack sighed noticeably as Troy continued, "I'd like you to talk me through how you feel about it. What is going on in your head?"

"At the moment? Something like _what the hell am I doing here?_ ," Jack said sarcastically, sighing again when he saw the look Troy was giving him. "Okay, okay," he then said, probably realising that the sooner he started talking, the sooner he would be able to get out of there, "How do I feel about my partner nearly being stabbed for no reason? Bloody pissed off, _that's_ how I feel!"

Troy became sympathetic, asking gently, "Why are you pissed off? Do you somehow feel responsible or –"

Both palms of Jack's hands hit the table in frustration, interrupting Troy's questions, "Of course I feel responsible! I'm senior to Rachel. It's all on me. I made the decision to search the power station without any backup and–" he stopped abruptly, thinking back to the previous night, "There's something else that's been bugging me too…"

"What's that?"

With a shake of his head, Jack sighed again, "You know, ten times out of bloody ten, I would let Rachel go down the stairs first. But last night, for some reason, I didn't… and it was as I was walking down the stairs that she saw Denton… and…" he groaned to himself, his frustration again showing.

Troy began to nod; now he was definitely seeing where Jack's anger was coming from. Even though he knew, from speaking to Rachel, about the intimate relationship between the two detectives, he still went on to say, "Okay, let's talk about Rachel. Your reaction to what happened to her speaks volumes. It's obvious you care."

Jack glared at him, wondering where he was going with this and also wondering if he'd already talked to Rachel about the same thing.

"What's your relationship with her like?"

Still glaring at Troy, this time through slit and judgemental eyes, Jack decided to stay quiet for what seemed like a number of long seconds before finally saying, "You've already spoken to Rachel, so I assume you already know the answer to that too."

Troy didn't respond. Instead he looked across at Jack, waiting for him to continue.

At first Jack's reply was a little uncertain, as if he was trying to find the right words, "Rachel and I… we were… are… romantically involved." The next words he spoke, however, were out of agitation more than anything, "Is that what you're wanting to hear? I'm in a relationship with my work partner, and when something bad almost happens to her, I lose my shit because I have feelings for her."

—

Jack returned to the office feeling worse than he did before, if that was at all possible. He sat down at his desk and breathed out heavily. Talking to Troy, as kind as he seemed to be, forced Jack to muse over everything again and he began to wonder what kind of partner he really was. He knew he'd never intentionally put Rachel's life at risk, but to Jack, the fact remained that the decisions he made could have put her in serious danger.

Although deep in his own thoughts, Jack soon looked up from his desk, realising that he was being stared at by both Rachel and Mick. "What?" he asked them with a frown.

"Nothing," they responded at the same time.

"What's happening with Denton?" Jack swiftly asked Mick, wanting to start a conversation, even if he knew it wasn't going to be a good one.

"Oh, after the interview I took him down to the SPC… he's going to be charged with attempted murder and also fraud by the look of it," Mick started to explain. He paused, almost tactfully, thinking of the best way to say what he wanted to say next. But he really couldn't put it any other way, "He may get bail."

Jack blinked slowly, trying to comprehend Mick's last sentence, " _What_?"

"Hopefully not. But that's the way it's looking unfortunately."

"Hang on a sec, let me get this straight," Jack's anger resurfaced and he wasn't afraid to let it show either, "This dickhead tries to stab Rachel, and whatever he's done to commit fraud… and he _might_ get bailed. What the hell?"

"Let's just hope he doesn't, Jack. But if he does, we can contest it."

* * *

_To be continued_.


	3. The Murder

* * *

The next day came around quickly, and when Jack and Rachel arrived at work in the morning, Helen immediately told them to go up to Jeff's office. "Why? What's going on?" Jack asked curiously upon seeing Helen's facial expression.

"Just go and see him please Jack," was all Helen said in reply, but the look on her face said that something was definitely wrong. She watched the two detectives pace quickly up the stairs, almost missing an alert from Gavin on the radio.

"Graham Denton…" Jeff began to say once Rachel and Jack were in his office with the door closed behind them. He paused momentarily, seeing Jack roll his eyes as if he was saying 'what's he done now?'. "He was granted bail yesterday evening as both of you may know, but when he didn't turn up for a mandatory work meeting earlier this morning, a colleague went to his house where they found him deceased."

Jack's mouth opened slightly but no sound, no words, came out.

"Suspicious circumstances according to forensics and the coroner," Jeff continued, deliberately not giving away how or when Graham died.

Jack and Rachel shared a confused glance and then looked back at Jeff, neither really knowing what to say.

"You'll be interviewed about it soon… informally at this stage."

Jack frowned at what Jeff said, "Huh? Why do we need to be interviewed?"

"Think of it as a formality, Jack," he answered simply, "Also, I will quickly add that with the passport scam being handed to the Feds, you'll need to give them everything you've got on the case, alright? I'll expect that to be done by the end of today."

" _Everything_ we've got? Well that's basically nothing," Jack commented sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Jeff then appeared to hurry them out of his office, "Right, well. That's all. I'll let you know when Homicide get here. If they don't let you know themselves first."

Jack and Rachel walked out of the office in silence; both were quite surprised by the news. Although Jack was glad more than anything, there was a part of him would have liked to have had the chance to knock the guy's block off. Jack, by his own admission, had been fairly restrained when he arrested Denton.

Rachel sighed sharply as she sat down at her desk.

"I take it Jeff told you what happened to Denton?" Mick said, merely from the body language of both Rachel and Jack, "Bit of a shock, isn't it?" he added, looking over at Jack with particular intent as he spoke.

"A shock, maybe, but who really gives a shit?" Jack muttered out loud, not exactly meaning to.

But if Jack wasn't shocked enough by the news of Denton's death, the next words Mick spoke really stunned him, "Just as long as you have an alibi, Jack. Because anyone… _everyone_ can see that you had a strong motive."

" _What_?"

Mick shrugged a little offhandedly, "All I'm saying is–"

"Oh I _know_ what you're saying!" Jack interrupted him gruffly, shaking his head in disbelief at what he was hearing, "You and God knows who else, think I killed him, hey Mick? Well isn't that good to know that my colleagues trust me and actually think I'd do something that stupid."

"It's not that at all–" Mick started to reply in his own defence, but he was interrupted once again, this time by a few quiet knocks on the door closest to Rachel's desk.

"Detectives. Joe Da Silva, Homicide," a man said in greeting. Rachel turned around at the sound of his voice, surprised to see that Joe was now working for Homicide and not the Armed Holdup Squad. "Sergeant Christey, I'd like to speak with you first if you don't mind… just this way," he pointed to the interview room door.

Jack managed a small, almost sarcastic smile as Joe walked away, and under his breath said, "Great."

—

"Now Detective Christey, I know we're in the interview room but this is just an informal chat for now, nothing more," Joe began, smiling at him pleasantly, trying to break the ice.

Jack wasn't having any of Joe's pleasantness however, saying impatiently, "Can we just get this over and done with? What do you want to know?"

Joe straightened his posture and placed his hands down so that they were resting on the table, "Okay," he nodded slowly, noting Jack's abrupt tone and assertive behaviour, "I know you've been told about the death of Graham Denton. Now, you were the one who arrested Denton yesterday morning at his home in Leichhardt, were you not?"

"Yes."

"And you arrested him for the attempted murder of Senior Constable Rachel Goldstein the previous day?"

" _Yes_."

Joe nodded again, "Okay. Your arrest of Denton…" he looked down at some paper piled in a folder in front of him, shuffling through it until he found what he was searching for, "Got a little rough, would that be fair to say?"

Jack stared at him, his blue eyes hardened at the line of questioning, "No rougher than many other arrests I've made in my time as a cop."

"He said you, and I quote him here, 'grabbed me by the arm and yanked it behind my back'," Joe again looked down at the paper in front of him; Jack then realising that it was Graham's statement from when Mick and Helen interviewed him.

"Yeah that's generally how it happens when you put handcuffs on someone to arrest them," Jack answered, deadpan, "And he was moving around a lot and I suppose I just wanted the little prick to be still."

Joe nodded again, but kept quiet.

"Look, where are you going with all this?" Jack then asked of Joe. He was feeling impatient and annoyed by the conversation. "I know how interviews work, I've been a detective for 12 years. So if you think I did it…" he paused carefully, "If you think I killed him in some sort of revenge ploy because he tried to stab my partner when she all she did was recognise him… why don't you just bloody ask me?"

"Okay Detective, I'll cut to the chase," Joe became as blunt as Jack was being, "Where were you last night between the hours of 1am and 4am?"

"In bed. Asleep."

"Is there anyone who can verify that?"

Jack tried his best not to hesitate, knowing that he was about to lie, but was pretty certain his hesitation was obvious as he answered, "No, no one can verify that." Jack didn't want to tell Joe that he was with Rachel, especially without talking it through with her first. But if his gut instinct was correct, it wouldn't matter if he said he was with Rachel; they'd probably think she would lie for him.

—

While Jack was being interviewed, Mick turned to Rachel, saying with confidence, "You're Jack's alibi, am I right in saying Rach? I mean, you can vouch for where he was last night? Although he's probably not going to admit it."

Rachel's eyes narrowed as she stared across at Mick, wondering what on earth he was thinking, "Wow. You really believe Jack killed Graham Denton, don't you? That he's capable of it," she avoided his questions by asking another one.

Mick shook his head emphatically. "No, I don't think he killed him, not at all. Capable? Yes of course, anyone is capable if they're pushed far enough. I'm just trying to think like the Homicide detectives. With or without evidence, they're going to suspect it was Jack because of his motive and it's a pretty strong motive too. He's suspect number one and I'm not sure how many others they would have on their list right now."

"And what motive is that?" Rachel asked, sounding naïve, although she had a fair idea of what Mick's answer was going to be.

"Getting revenge on Graham Denton for attempting to stab you," Mick said right away, still emphatic, "You could have died if he _did_ stab you… and Jack knows it. That has got to be one of the reasons why he's been so pissed off about it all. On top of that, his feelings for you."

"Jack's pissed off with himself, I think, more than anything," Rachel replied honestly, deliberately ignoring Mick's last comment. She didn't want to have _that_ particular conversation with him again.

Mick began to nod in agreement, "Maybe he is yeah… but you didn't see him with Denton yesterday, Rachel. You didn't see the anger in Jack's eyes. And it was all directed towards Denton, as if me and Helen weren't even there. He's like a bomb ready to blow up at any moment. And I get the feeling Da Silva will see that too."

Choosing to stay silent, Rachel tilted her head back, staring up at the ceiling above. She had seen Jack angry before; seen him lose his temper. But this was an entirely different type of anger, this was rage of the deepest kind. Mick was right about one thing though, Jack was definitely like a bomb ready to blow up and Rachel knew she had to try and stop him from exploding.

—

Having a bit of free time felt like a Godsend to the detectives, especially after their roundabout interviews with Joe Da Silva. When Mick left the office briefly, Jack decided to chat to Rachel about what he'd told Da Silva, even if he wasn't really supposed to talk about it. "I didn't tell him I was with you last night, Rach," he said, with an intense but soft tone in his voice, "I didn't want to involve you… if you know what I mean."

Rachel, in many ways, felt sorry for Jack. She knew that by him lying to Da Silva and therefore not having a very good alibi, that things might get tricky for Jack, and she just wanted to be there for him as best she could. "I'm not sure lying is the right choice, Jack," Rachel decided to be honest with him, "I mean, I get it… I get why, I do. But now you don't even have–"

"It wasn't a lie as such, it was a half-truth," Jack told her confidently, "I _was_ asleep in bed at the time… I just said no one could verify it, that's all."

"And that probably just gives them more reason to think you had the opportunity."

Jack took a deep breath in and out, answering, "Yeah well, where's their evidence, hey? They don't have any and they won't get any either because I didn't do it," he paused, adding quietly but meaningfully, "Not that I didn't want to hurt the bastard…"

Rachel closed her eyes for a moment. It was in that time that Mick hurried back into the office, saying, "We've got a job, guys. C'mon, let's go."

"What is it?" Jack asked, getting up off his chair and grabbing his jacket in one quick movement, 'cop mode' taking over.

"Reports of a diver in trouble in a wreck off Rodd Point."

Quickly following Mick down the corridor, with Rachel not far behind, Jack then said, "What sort of trouble? Dead sort of trouble or just hanging in there sort of trouble?"

"Not sure. The details are a bit sketchy at this stage."

—

At the foreshore of Rodd Point, the detectives were met by Dave and the Harpy crew. It was the first proper time that Dave had seen Rachel since the day she was almost stabbed; since he had called her a smartarse. Dave subtly called Rachel over with the sideways movement of his head, she followed him to a quieter area, where no one else was around.

"Listen… Rachel," he began, in usual Dave manner, "I'm sorry about the other day. I shouldn't have said what I said."

Rachel was shaking her head as soon as he started to apologise, "No, no it's okay Dave," she flashed a friendly smile at him, "I should be the one apologising to you. It was just one of those days… _I_ was having one of those stupid, crappy days and I took some of it out on you. So _I'm_ sorry."

"Well _you_ didn't call _me_ a smartarse," Dave smiled back, "Plus I think I kinda knew you weren't having the best of days, I shouldn't have said it."

Rachel decided to call a truce. She didn't want to leave anything hanging over their heads, especially after what almost happened to her. Life is too short, she thought. "How about we call it even then?"

Dave nodded once, agreeing, "As long as there's a beer involved."

"Don't you know it!" she exclaimed with a small laugh, and they walked back to where everyone was, happy now that they had cleared the air between them.

As Emma and Johnny got kitted up in their diving equipment, Dave began to explain to the detectives what they knew had happened so far. "It seems as though there's only one person we're looking for, judging from the gear left in the boat. He didn't have a dive buddy from the look of it either. And I'm not holding onto any hopes that we're going to find him alive, he's apparently been under for about 50 minutes according to some witnesses."

"Right, thanks Dave," Jack told him, watching through sunglasses as Dave headed back to where the Harpy was docked. He then turned to Rachel and Mick, saying with authority, "Do you two want to canvass the area and I'll speak to someone at the boat rental place? Okay? Good," Jack strode off in the opposite direction, not giving either of them the chance to reply.

Somewhat confused by Jack's offhandedness, Rachel and Mick glanced at each other from where they were both standing, " _Oh-kay_ ," Rachel responded, even though Jack was now too far away to hear her.

—

_"Got him Dave,"_ Emma said over the radio about 20 minutes later.

"Status?" Dave asked, from his position on board the Harpy.

_"Deceased."_

"Okay. Copy that," he answered, signalling to the detectives that the news about the diver wasn't good, "Bring him up. I'll get forensics down here."

Jack, Rachel and Mick walked over to where the Harpy was docked, and watched with some trepidation as Emma and Johnny brought the dead diver to the water's surface. "Found any I.D?" Jack asked Dave, "A boat rental employee said he paid in cash when he hired the boat, and I'm assuming the name Max Wattage is false…"

Dave hid a wry grin, "None in the boat but we'll see if there's anything on his person," he said as he helped Emma and Johnny pull the dead man onto the boat. "Check all the zippers, some wetsuits have hidden pockets," Dave then told Emma.

"Sure thing, Sarge," Emma replied, checking over the man's body. She didn't have to search for long, however, "Got something!" she exclaimed, holding up what appeared to be a drivers license, "His name is Christopher Denton. Born September 21 1966," Emma then handed it to Dave.

Rachel felt her entire body freeze at hearing the man's surname was Denton. Was that just some sort of weird coincidence or was he related to Graham? Jack appeared to be having the same train of thought she was, although he said it out loud and with a frown on his face, "Denton? Is that a coincidence or what?"

Without speaking, Dave stepped off the Harpy and passed the license over to Jack, who glared down at it. The man's I.D photo did have some resemblance to Graham Denton, Jack thought. "Okay," he soon said to Rachel and Mick as they were walking back towards the shore, "Let's get on to Helen and see if she can find anything on this guy."

"I'll do that," Mick offered politely, and he walked over to where his car was parked to chat to Helen on the radio.

Jack looked over at Rachel, noticing she was pretty quiet, "You okay Rach?" he asked.

She blinked a few times and looked back at him, "Yeah."

—

_"There are two people listed as Christopher Denton's next of kin, Mick,"_ Helen informed him over the radio, _"One is his sister, Laura Denton, 37. She lives in Paddington."_

"And the other?"

Helen paused noticeably, before eventually saying after one long breath out, _"The other… Graham Denton… brother."_

"Fuck!" Mick said in a hoarse whisper, but making sure he wasn't speaking into the radio. He then cleared his throat, "Okay, thanks for the info Helen."

_"And Mick, take Rachel with you when you go and see the sister…"_ Helen added quickly, _"Even though I don't want Rachel to be too involved either, I most definitely want Jack's involvement in this to be as minimal as possible. In fact, I really don't think he should be involved at all. If Jack doesn't like that, he can talk to me about it. At the station."_

"Copy that, thanks Helen," Mick put the receiver back in its place and got out of his car. He slammed the door shut, sighing heavily and with some frustration as he did so. He knew Jack wasn't going to be happy with the decision. Mick saw Jack and Rachel walking closer and met up with them halfway between the two cars belonging to the detectives.

"How'd Helen go? Did she find out any information?" Jack asked him.

Mick was almost reluctant to reply at first. He didn't even want to look Jack in the eye but knew he had to eventually. "Yes Jack," he soon answered, nodding, "But Helen wants me to take Rachel… and she said if you're unhappy with that, you can go back to work and talk to her about it."

Jack's mouth dropped open but he wasn't all that surprised by what Mick was saying, "Oh let me guess, the dead guy is some relative of Graham Denton?" he didn't even bother waiting for a response, "Fine. I'll go back to the station and talk to Helen."

Exactly as they did about 30 minutes earlier, Rachel and Mick shared a confused glance. Jack was suddenly being a bit too cool, calm and collected about everything for their liking. It seemed like a ruse, a cover, for how he was really feeling.

—

Driving to Laura Denton's house in Paddington, Mick and Rachel remained relatively silent until they arrived at the address. "Are you going to be okay with all this?" Mick asked as they got out of the car, "Helen said she didn't really want you too involved either, but I think it's better you being here rather than Jack. Unless you're feeling uncomfortable in any way…"

"I'm fine," Rachel quickly replied, quite convincingly too, although she wasn't really all that convinced on the inside.

They walked towards the front of the house, where Mick was about to knock on the door but it opened before he could do so. A woman appeared in front of them; she had a sorrowful expression on her face.

"Hello, I'm Detective Michael Reilly and this is Detective Rachel Goldstein. We're from the Sydney Water Police," Mick began calmly, flashing his police badge, "I'm sorry to disturb you, but we're looking for Laura Denton–"

"Yes, I'm Laura," the woman answered anxiously, still standing in the middle of the doorway, "What's happened? Has this got something to do with my brother Graham? Have you found out who killed him?"

"I think it's best if we talk inside. May we come in?" Mick then asked considerately.

"Yes, of course," Laura stepped aside, allowing Mick and Rachel to enter the house. She then directed them to the lounge room where she gestured them both to sit down. "So, what's this about? My brother Graham? I spoke to the police earlier this morning..." her voice trailed off as she began to get upset.

Mick shook his head, deciding that he should be the one to speak instead of Rachel, "No, we're not here about Graham. His killer hasn't been found yet… not at this stage," he paused, seeing Laura look him oddly. "The body of a man was pulled from the water at Rodd Point a little while ago–"

Laura gasped, almost as if she was realising what Mick was about to tell her. "Chris was going to Rodd Point this morning… he phoned me and said he was hiring a boat to go diving," she started to explain even though no one had asked, "He said he was going to use a fake name… I guess because of Graham's name being in the papers over the last couple of days or so… Are you sure it is Chris?"

"Our divers found his driver's license on him," Mick answered, "We will need you to accompany us to the morgue to identify him. When you're ready though, Ms Denton, there's no rush."

Laura started to sob quietly, but through her tears managed to say, "I know Graham was charged with attempted murder yesterday… I know it was for trying to stab a police officer… but he didn't deserve to die. Neither did Chris… neither of them deserved this."

With those words from Laura, Rachel suddenly felt nauseous so she excused herself from the room and hastily made her way outside. She crouched down on the verge of the footpath next to a tree, trying to stop herself from throwing up. Rachel thought about what her grandmother once told her about getting rid of nausea: breathe in through your nose, hold, and then breathe out through your mouth. That technique didn't really work all that well, she realised.

"Are you okay Rach?" came Mick's concerned voice from behind her, "Laura will come to down to the morgue with me a bit later this afternoon, so we can go back to the station now."

"I'm fine," Rachel stood up quickly at the sound of his voice, wishing that everyone would stop asking her if she was alright. Ignoring the sick feeling in her stomach, Rachel swallowed hard, saying, "Let's go," but she still copped a concerned eye from Mick, "If you tell Jack or Helen about this, I may have to punch you."

Mick held up his hands to chest height, but laughed as they got into the car, "I wouldn't dream of it!" he started the engine and said before he drove away, "But seriously, _are_ you okay? You looked like you were throwing up before… or about to throw up."

Rachel sighed, although she decided to finally answer the question with relative honesty, "I just felt a bit sick that's all…"

"From what Laura said?" Mick asked a little vaguely, but he was pretty certain that Rachel would know what he meant.

She glanced across at him from the passenger seat and then back down at her lap, fidgeting with her fingers as if she was nervous, "I guess so."

—

Back at the station, Jack and Helen had just finished their prolonged chat about Jack not allowed to be involved on the Denton case. Helen was merely adamant that there was too much of a conflict of interest. Jack, however, left Helen's office reeling. It was as though she was against him too; as if she also thought he'd had something to do with Denton's death.

He sat down on his office chair heavily and smacked his fist down onto his desk out of frustration.

"Detective Christey," Joe Da Silva then poked his head into the office, "Can I have a quick word with you outside?"

Jack remained seated for a couple of seconds, wondering if Joe happened to see him 'punch' his desk or if there was something else going on, "What have I supposedly done now?" he asked sarcastically, slowly getting up from his chair and following Joe outside.

"I've just been speaking to Jeff, and he and I agreed that you will be suspended from duty with pay, effective from the end of today. While the investigation is ongoing," Joe stated as soon as Jack had closed the door.

Jack was speechless.

"There are some serious allegations against you at the moment, Jack," Joe tried to somehow make the conversation less formal by using his first name, "These allegations have only gotten worse since I spoke to you this morning. So Jeff and I just feel that it would be better for everyone, including you, if you–"

" _Allegations_? Meaning more than one?" Jack interrupted, mainly out of confusion, "Look… I didn't kill Denton. I don't even know how he died for God's sake!"

Joe held up one hand to stop him from continuing, "I know it's going to be a bit of a shock, but we _will_ keep you informed as much as possible, okay?" he left Jack standing on the balcony before he could answer.

"Fucking hell," Jack then said to himself, deciding to stay outside for a while longer. A few minutes later, he heard the door open and close, and annoyed, said firmly, "What now?" before he completely turned around. Instead of Joe standing in front of him, Jack saw that it was Rachel. He let out a sigh, "Sorry, Rach."

She walked towards him, stopping when they were standing only a few inches apart, "We've just been told what's happening…" she began softly, pausing to ever so lightly touch his hand, "I think you should seriously think about telling Da Silva the truth about your alibi. About us."

Jack shook his head, "No, I can't do that. Da Silva would just think that you'd cover for me or whatever. He's a complete dickhead who has already decided I'm guilty, no matter what he actually says or knows. And I'm sure he'd manage to find something to accuse _you_ of if he knew I was with you that night."

"But Jack, it could help–"

"Yeah, _and_ it could totally backfire as well," Jack answered before she could finish. He then said with absolutely sincerity, "I'm not doing that to you. I care about you too much, Rach."

* * *

_To be continued._


	4. The Truth (part 1)

* * *

Jack made it home later that evening without managing to punch any holes in the walls, surprising perhaps himself more than anyone else. He stood next to his kitchen bench, aimlessly staring down at what was left of the bottle of red wine he'd bought for he and Rachel a few nights earlier. It almost seemed like a lifetime ago now, that night.

He let out a heavy, loud sigh. It wasn't even the first full day of his suspension and already Jack had no idea what he was going to do with his free time. Should he use it to do his own investigation, to try and clear his name? Or should he just let it run its own course and enjoy his forced time off? Jack was soon answering his own questions, grabbing a small notebook and pen, ready to scribble down any ideas about who he thought may have had the motive and opportunity to kill Graham Denton.

But no ideas came. Not a single one.

"Shit!"

As soon as he berated himself, there was a knock at the door. Jack flung his notebook and pen onto the coffee table and walked halfheartedly down the hallway, his feet scuffing along the floor because he couldn't be bothered lifting them properly. He only perked up when he saw who was standing on his front step.

"Hi," Rachel said with a smile, holding up a six pack of beer in one hand and some takeaway food in a plastic bag in the other, "I thought you might feel like these."

"And here I was just happy to see you, but beer _and_ food as well! How can a man refuse?!" Jack laughed as he let her inside.

After sitting down on the couch with their drinks and food, Rachel took the opportunity to once again try and convince Jack to tell Da Silva the truth about his alibi. But as soon as he got even the slightest sense of what she was starting to say, Jack was shaking his head. "No, Rach… I already told you I can't do that. I don't want you to then be falsely accused of something you didn't do. They'll probably find a reason to suspend you too."

"You don't _know_ any of that will happen!" Rachel exclaimed, not with a loud voice however, insisting, "God Jack, please stop being so stubborn. This could help you. Let _me_ help you."

"Do you want to know what you can do to help me?" Jack asked of her, picking up the notebook he'd left on the coffee table, "Help me find out who did kill Denton. Help me come up with some names, Rachel."

Almost giving in, she sighed and spoke quietly, "Okay. We can try and come up with some names, but there's not a lot we can do about any names we may think of. Neither of us can go anywhere near the investigation."

"Rach, I'm not talking about Joe Da Silva and his meandering ways. He can't even call what he's doing a proper investigation. It's a bullshit fishing expedition focused solely on me. I'm talking about _us_ doing our own investigating," Jack saw Rachel glaring at him through unsure eyes, "I know it sounds crazy…"

"It is _absolutely_ crazy!" Rachel was then reminded of when she first met Jack. He had a commissioners hearing hanging over his head, and he did just about anything he could to make sure there was a good result on what he thought was going to be his last case. This time around, although the situation was quite different, he seemed to be in a similar state of mind: he was a man on a mission.

"On a scale of one to ten, how crazy is it, would you say?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, making sure Jack saw her do it too, "More crazy than what _you_ and _I_ are," she poked him a few times in the chest with her index finger.

—

When Rachel got to work the next day, the first thing she noticed upon walking into the office was that Jack's desk had been cleared. Everything except for the telephone and his name holder. "What the hell…" she said in a slight whisper, rubbing her fingers across her forehead which then pushed her usually neat fringe out of place.

"Homicide was in here about half an hour ago, they took most of Jack's stuff," Mick answered Rachel, even though he didn't hear what she said, he just saw the bewildered look on her face.

Rachel sat down at her desk, shaking her head as she did so. Her fringe still out of place.

"If you want something that might help take your mind off things… I've just been chatting to Dave. He checked out the dive gear that Christopher Denton had on him and on the boat but didn't find anything wrong with it," Mick stated, but soon thought that talking about their new case probably wouldn't help Rachel much at all, "Sorry."

"No it's okay, I need to get over it all sooner rather than later," Rachel told him confidently, shaking her head again, "So what do we think about his death now? Just an accident? He didn't know what he was doing or…?"

"Oh, all of the above maybe. I suppose we'll know more once the coroner's report is completed," Mick replied, he too now sitting at his desk but facing Rachel. He looked across at her, almost wondering if she was going to say something else but instead she stayed quiet. It remained that way between the two detectives until Helen walked into the office, after knocking on the door frame a couple of times.

"Laura Denton is waiting downstairs, she wants to speak to someone…" Helen informed them, primarily looking at Mick as she spoke, as if she silently wanted him to be the 'someone' that Laura could talk to.

Mick appeared to understand what Helen wanted and he stood up, "Right, well I'll go and do that," he said, walking out of the office with a wink. Much like Helen, Mick wanted to try and minimise the impact this case had on Rachel, if that was at all possible. He knew that she was having a tough time, even though she was obviously doing her best to try and hide it.

Hiding how she was feeling was one of Rachel's super powers. Well, not just _one_ , it was _the one_. She was so good at, she could do it in her sleep. Rachel wasn't quite sure if it was something she had simply learnt over the years in her time as a cop, or if it was something she had always been able to do. Either way, it had become second nature. Like a bad habit she was unable to get rid of.

"Laura found a suicide note while going through her brother's things," Mick's voice appeared to enter the office before his body did, "Christopher, that is," he corrected himself, realising that by saying her brother, it could mean one of two.

_That was quick_ , Rachel looked at her watch, but saw that 20 minutes had actually past. "A suicide note?" she then repeated, surprised by the news, "So he went diving with the intention… to kill himself… That's… unusual, isn't it?"

"An unusual form of suicide?" Mick asked, but quickly answered his own question, "I guess it is."

"Was he depressed?"

He shook his head a few times, "Not according to Laura, no. But that doesn't mean he wasn't feeling down. Especially after Graham's–" Mick stopped talking abruptly; it was almost like he'd interrupted himself.

"You _can_ say it, you know Mick," Rachel told him, using a firm yet somehow emotionless voice. "It all seems a bit off though, don't you think? A man, not depressed according to his sister, suddenly kills himself by the means of drowning or suffocating while diving… I mean, I know people kill themselves. But…" she ended with a shrug, unsure of what she was trying to say.

—

Tired and bored of sitting around at home with his own thoughts, Jack decided he had to do something. It was only the first few hours of the first day of his suspension and he already wanted his job back. Jack liked his job. He _liked_ being a detective. And the majority of the time he was pretty good at it too. Except for this time it seemed, because annoyingly, there was only one name written down in his 'who the hell killed Graham Denton?' notebook, one lousy bloody name.

Alex Grenville.

Jack didn't even think Alex Grenville had it in him to kill a fly, let alone a human being. But he did get the feeling that Alex may know something. And that was enough for Jack. He didn't care if he was bending or even breaking any rules. But before he did anything about going to find Alex, Jack drove to the station. He wanted to see Rachel. When he hadn't been thinking about the case, it was Rachel that was in his mind.

"Jack, what are you doing here?" Helen huffed as soon as she saw him walking through the open door, the stern frown on her face suggesting she wasn't happy to see him there. "You _know_ you can't be at work while you're suspended! If Da Silva or Jeff saw you…" she shook her head disapprovingly.

"I'm just here to see Rachel, that's all," he said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Ever heard of the telephone? It's a fancy invention from the 19th century, made even more accessible these days by the _mobile_ phone. You could call her," Helen wasn't in the mood for hearing any excuses from Jack, "In fact, I should make you leave right now and call her…"

"But?"

Helen groaned out of pure frustration towards the detective, " _But_! You're here, aren't you?" she shook her head when she saw him grin a little, like a child getting his own way, "So, I will _call_ Rachel down… using the telephone! And you can wait for her outside."

Jack chuckled quietly to himself as he went outside and stood in the sunshine to the left of the building, out of immediate view. He'd always liked Helen. What you see is what you get with her, and Jack respected her greatly for that.

"Jack," he heard Rachel's soft voice come from behind him a few minutes later. He spun around on his heels, feeling what he could only describe as a mix of relief and happiness, when he saw her. As Rachel walked towards him, it was obvious that she was wondering what he was doing there. But she didn't ask. She wanted to let Jack tell her what was happening.

"I haven't been the easiest person to deal with over these last few days or so and I'm sorry," Jack began, and hearing him apologise almost made Rachel brace herself for the worst. He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently, "And I know you don't need to hear this right now, Rach. Actually you probably don't even _want_ to hear this either…"

"Jack, whatever you're planning to do, you're right, it's not something I need to know," she tried to preempt what he was going to tell her, thinking back to their conversation the night before. But when Jack started to shake his head, she frowned, realising that perhaps she was assuming too much. "Sorry, what is it? Have you thought of some names? Is that why you're here?"

"No. Well… yes, there is one stupid name… that I thought of this morning," Jack stuttered a little as he spoke initially. Still holding Rachel's hand, he used it to pull her closer to him and she didn't resist, "But no, that's not why I'm here."

"Okay?"

Jack lowered his head, "I'm here because I need to –"

"Detectives," Joe Da Silva's booming voice cut through the air, causing Jack and Rachel to both flinch slightly. They quickly pulled away from each other, both hoping that Joe didn't see the close proximity between them. "I'm not going to bother asking you why you're here, Christey," he announced, pulling his shoulders back to correct his posture, "But if you don't leave right now, I'll happily find another reason to have your suspension extended beyond this investigation."

With only a small, sideways glance at Rachel, Jack walked down the path towards the carpark. There were many, _many_ things he wanted to say to Da Silva but that man just wasn't worth the trouble, Jack thought.

When Jack was well out of sight, Joe turned around and started to walk towards the building, but as he did so, called out, "Rachel, I'd like a word if you don't mind."

"Crap," Rachel said under her breath, and reluctantly followed him as he headed up two sets of stairs to the roof. Once there, she felt her stomach sink to the ground as soon as Joe started to open his mouth.

"You and Christey, is there something going on between the two of you that I should know about?" Joe asked nosily; he knew it wasn't really any of his business but he still said it anyway.

"No," Rachel replied. Her negative response was directed towards the 'I should know about' part of his question.

Joe tilted his head to one side slightly and gave her a look that said he didn't really believe her, "You know, I don't particularly care if there is something going on between you or not. Jack's anger towards Graham Denton would actually make a whole lotta sense if there was. Although I never would have picked you to be the kind of person to date a colleague."

Rachel inhaled sharply through clenched teeth, "Is there a point to all this, Joe?" she asked, one hand placed on her hip, not in the mood for his judgement, "Because if there's not, I'm going back inside. I have work to do."

"And _I_ have work to do too, Rachel," he retorted, gesturing with his index finger to make sure she didn't leave quite yet, "Finding out who killed Denton, in case you've forgotten. And I happen to think I have figured it out, I just need some hard evidence."

"It _wasn't_ Jack!"

"Oh?" Joe raised both his eyebrows, lines forming on his forehead making him look much older. He walked over to Rachel, saying into her ear, "And you know that for sure do you?" Joe almost goaded her arrogantly but suggestively as well, and he started to walk away; he felt he had the better of the conversation.

"He was with me that night!" Rachel blurted out loudly before she even thought about or knew what she was saying. Her head immediately dropped. _Fuck_.

Joe stopped in his tracks, completely still. As he turned back around to half face Rachel, he slowly started to nod in realisation. It definitely all made sense now. But nothing, not even an alibi in Rachel, was going to change the fact that he still thought Jack was very capable of murder.

—

"It just came out… I'm sorry," Rachel sheepishly told Jack over the phone. Despite having some paperwork to do, she'd stayed out on the roof after Joe left. She had a feeling that Joe would go straight to Jeff and tell him what she said, and Rachel wasn't prepared for what the Chief Inspector's reaction might be just yet.

Sitting in his car parked outside the water taxi company where Alex Grenville worked, Jack let out a small sigh. However, he wasn't annoyed with her, "It's okay, Rach. Don't worry about it," he replied honestly.

"I think he was deliberately trying to rile me. Especially after he saw us…" she said with an eventual frown and long-winded sigh, becoming aware that _that_ was definitely what Joe had done. Even though he probably wasn't expecting to hear what came out of her mouth.

"Of course he was riling you, he's the definition of the word 'dickhead'," Jack answered with a deadpan tone. "Hey Rach, I have to go, alright?" he saw Alex leaving the main building and head down towards the wharf, "I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, but wait Jack, what are you doing? Where are you?" Rachel tried to ask, but quickly realised that he'd hung up and she was talking to the dial tone, "Dammit," she snapped her flip phone shut. She thought about calling him back but hearing footsteps made her think twice.

Standing at the top of the stairs was Helen, trying to shade her squinted eyes with one hand from the bright sunshine. "Jeff wants to see you in his office," she said in a calm voice.

Rachel took a few deep but quiet breaths in and out before she said, "Sure," and followed Helen down the stairs in a nervous silence. Once in Jeff's office, she sat down on one of the chairs in front of his desk, waiting for him to begin his tirade.

Jeff stared at her for an uncomfortable amount of seconds. He'd never really yelled at or been too angry with Rachel in the four years he had known her, and he wasn't about to start now. Instead, he was a little disappointed. "You and Jack…" he started off by saying, the disappointment obvious in his voice, "Da Silva told me."

"Listen, Jeff –"

Jeff held up his right hand, "I don't need to hear it, Rachel. I'd just like to be kept in the loop next time, so I don't look like a complete idiot when I try to defend officers under my command."

Rachel wanted to roll her eyes. In that exact moment, he was like the Jeff of old; the Jeff from when Rachel first started working at the Sydney Water Police. In those days, he was an arrogant Senior Sergeant who only appeared to care about how _he_ looked to other people. And right now, there seemed to be little to no regard for Jack at all and that bugged Rachel.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you what I think about it either," he then continued, bluntly referring to the relationship between Rachel and Jack.

"No."

"What I will tell you, however, is that I know I can't necessarily do anything about it. There is no rule against two police officers from the same unit being in a sexual relationship," Jeff explained to her firmly. For some reason Rachel felt uneasy by his use of the word 'sexual'; like it was her father speaking. "But if I see the two of you, at any point, start to become unprofessional in even the slightest way, there will be no hesitation from me in having either of you transferred out of here. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Rachel answered with a single nod.

"Okay, good," Jeff nodded as well, happy the elephant in the room had been addressed. "Now the next thing I need to talk to you about is updating your statement. Jack most definitely needs to as well but I will talk to him a little later," he glanced down at an open folder on his desk and picked up a piece of paper. Written on it, was Rachel's original statement from her interview with Da Silva. She hadn't mentioned anything about where she was the night Graham Denton was killed, but she wasn't asked either.

"I'll do that now," she answered with a half-smile, and Jeff gave her the statement, "Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all. Thanks Rachel."

—

At the wharf where the water taxis were docked, Jack caught up with Alex Grenville just before he was about to board one of the boats. Immediately recognising the suspended detective, an alarmed looking Alex started to freak out and said to him in a fast, almost manic manner, "Why are you here? You can't be here! They're probably watching me."

"Do I look like I give a shit, Grenville?" Jack growled aggressively through his teeth, "I need answers right now. And you're going to give them to me," he paused, noticing that Alex almost looked scared, "Pretend I'm a bloody customer if that helps you."

Alex's eyes wandered around, trying to see if there was anyone watching them. He stepped on board the water taxi and gestured Jack to do the same, hoarsely whispering, "Come on," as he did so.

Jack followed, and as soon as Alex started the boat's engine, demanded to know, "So you can help me?"

He ran an anxious hand through his dark, gel slicked hair, "I don't know! I don't even know what you want."

"Oh come off it! Don't play those stupid games with me," Jack exclaimed loudly, holding onto a handrail as Alex finally guided the boat away from the wharf and into the open water of the harbour, "You know exactly what I want."

Alex sighed, slowing the boat down until it was almost drifting slightly. He'd heard about Graham Denton's murder, and was a little put out by the fact that the man who was rumoured to have killed Denton was standing on his boat.

"Well?"

"I don't know who killed Graham Denton. I swear," Alex eventually answered. He could feel Jack's eyes burning into him at that very moment. "I actually thought it was you… You know, after what he did –almost did to your partner that night at the power station."

"And you know about that, do you?" Jack asked, speaking of the near miss on Rachel's life.

"It was in the paper."

Jack rolled his eyes. As if a little shit like Alex Grenville would even be remotely interested in reading the newspaper. "Did you know Denton was going to be there that night?"

"I knew _someone_ was going to be there. I told you they watch me. They watch me all of the time. But I didn't know who it was going to be…" he answered, as the wake from a ferry made the smaller boat rock from side to side.

"But you do know who killed him?" Jack asked ever so bluntly, closely watching Alex's face turn a pale shade of white-ish grey, "I _know_ you know, so just bloody tell me. The quicker you tell me, the quicker I'll piss off," he saw Alex's mouth opened a little before shutting again. "Come on!" Jack was getting impatient, something of a normal feeling for him over the past few days, "A name, Grenville. Anytime you're ready."

"Maybe… Charlie Driscoll," he eventually said in a mouselike, timid way, his eyes deliberately turned away from Jack because he refused to look at the detective. He was almost ashamed of himself for giving in to Jack's intimating stance.

A small frown formed on Jack's face; the name didn't sound familiar to him at all, "And who the hell is he?" he demanded to know, his voice raised to a level which made Alex jump.

" _She_."

"A _woman_?" Jack was taken by surprise, "Hang on, you think a _woman_ killed Graham Denton? Is that what you're telling me?"

Alex finally worked up some courage to look across at Jack, "I don't know! I told you I don't know. Not for sure. She's just… she's the woman behind the scam… I can only guess that maybe she was pissed off with Graham for the stuff that happened at the power station. So…" his head dropped and his eyes left Jack, "Maybe she killed him because of it. I don't know!"

"Okay," he nodded, a less harsh tone of voice made Alex feel a little relieved. Jack started to think about how he'd be able to somehow use the information he received, "Take me to the Sydney Water Police wharf."

—

Gavin and Tommy were securing the Nemesis to the wharf when they spotted Jack arriving on the water taxi. Gavin came very close to making a teasing remark about the detective's mobile phone, thinking back to the day where (mostly) everyone found out about Jack and Rachel's tryst. But seeing the 'don't mess with me' expression on Jack's face made Gavin keep his mouth tightly shut.

"Whatever you're thinking of saying, Gavin, I'd think again if I were you," Jack appeared to read his mind as he walked rather quickly, and with meaning, past the two Senior Constables, not bothering to stop as he spoke.

Gavin frowned as Jack continued to walk away, looking over at Tommy who was grinning back at him, "What?" he asked in an almost innocent way, "I wasn't going to say anything."

"No but you were thinking it!" Tommy chuckled unsympathetically, "And sometimes that's enough, Gavin!"

Inside the station, a sudden wave of déjà vu swept over Helen when she saw Jack standing in the doorway, arms folded over his chest. "Please don't tell me you're after Rachel again, Jack," she said, almost feeling fed up with him.

"Actually no. Jeff would be ideal, but if Da Silva is here, fine," Jack advised her.

Helen's eyes narrowed, asking, "And what's wrong with the telephone this time?" but when Jack didn't offer any kind of reply, she threw her hands in the air, "Oh alright! Da Silva isn't here, but Jeff's in his office. I'll let him know you're on your way up."

"Thanks Helen," Jack answered with a genuineness that surprised her. He paced upstairs, barely giving Helen time to let Jeff know that he was there. As he walked directly past the detectives office, Jack saw Rachel sitting at her desk with the laptop in front of her. "Hey Rach," Jack said, poking his head through the open door. Hearing his voice appeared to startle Rachel a little and Jack apologised.

"Are you here to see Jeff? Or Da Silva?" she guessed.

"Jeff. Dickhead Da Silva isn't here apparently," Jack wanted to tell Rachel about what Grenville had said, but he stopped himself, mainly because he saw an odd look appear her face as soon as he said Jeff's name. "Hey, what is it?"

Rachel looked down at the laptop screen for a moment and then back at Jack, who was staring at her through worried blue eyes. She sighed heavily, "After I stupidly blurted out what I did to Da Silva… he went straight to Jeff and told him about it… us."

"Ah," Jack nodded understandingly, "So I should expect to get a roasting from Jeff about it?"

"Something like that."

"Christey," came Jeff's voice from somewhere in the corridor, "My office please."

Jack quickly glanced at Rachel before following Jeff. He wasn't looking forward to what Jeff was going to say, but remained upbeat that somehow he would soon be cleared of Graham Denton's murder and be back at work.

"Have a seat, thanks Jack," Jeff extended his arm towards a chair in front of his desk, almost being a little too pleasant for Jack's liking. When he was seated, Jeff began the conversation by saying, "I take it you have a good reason for being here? Because you're on your second strike and well on the way to your third, according to Da Silva."

"Second strike? Geez, when did the first one happen?" Jack asked sarcastically, copping an immediate glare from Jeff. "Look Jeff," he then said, realising that being smart wasn't going to get him anywhere, "I didn't kill Denton, and I think you know that too. I have the name of someone, a woman, who may be involved. Charlie Driscoll."

"Do I want to know how you even got that name, Jack? You shouldn't be talking to _anyone_ about _any_ of this," Jeff shook his head, dumbfounded by the detective's actions.

Jack became angry again, "I'm pretty much up for murder here! Da Silva thinks I'm as guilty as they come," he exclaimed, his voice displaying his anger but he didn't care, "What do you expect me to do? Sit around on my arse at home all day, waiting to be charged with a murder I didn't commit!"

Jeff sighed and decided that it would be a good time to change the subject. He'd had Jack's statement sitting on his desk in front of him for most of the day, and thought now was the time to talk about it, "I need you to update your statement, Jack. Your whereabouts and _who_ you were with the night Graham Denton was killed. Your little… _lie_ … about that hasn't helped your case."

Jack screwed up his nose in disbelief, "It wasn't a _lie..._ as such…" he soon realised that saying it to Rachel was okay, but saying it out loud in front of Jeff just sounded plain stupid.

"Jack. Just update your statement and give it back to me, okay?" Jeff wasn't in the mood to argue, but did add, "I will inform Da Silva about the… name you gave me. Charlie Driscoll was it?" Jack nodded, "But he's going to want to know where and who that name came from and I won't be lying."

"Whatever, Jeff."

—

At Jack's house later that evening, Rachel poured them each a glass of red wine; the remainder of the bottle that Jack had bought. As she handed him his glass, she asked, "What were you going to tell me at the station earlier today? You know, before Da Silva interrupted."

Even though the day hadn't been that tiring for him, Jack sat down on the couch heavily. He stayed quiet for about 30 seconds, thinking back to what it was he wanted to tell her. It wasn't so much that Jack needed to _remember_ what he was going to say, he just felt hesitant all of a sudden. "Okay," he said quietly, mustering up all the courage he could, "Now, if you want to leave after I tell you this, it's alright…"

"Huh?" Rachel sat down next to him, obviously confused.

Jack decided to bite the bullet and stop being so hesitant. What's the worst that could happen, he asked himself. But as he went to speak, Rachel's phone starting ringing loudly from inside her jacket pocket, and almost simultaneously, there were multiple loud, hard knocks at the door. "Is that a coincidence or what," Jack scoffed, as Rachel answered her phone.

"Goldstein," she said, and straight away a look of concern flashed in her eyes, "Hang on, Helen… what?… Okay… Will do, bye."

"What?" Jack asked, seeing the worried expression on her face. The loud knocks on the door continued, seeming to get more forceful each time.

"Helen said Da Silva is on his way here," Rachel answered, stunned by what she was about to say, "Well… that's probably him right now. He has a search warrant."

* * *

_To be concluded in The Truth part 2!_


	5. The Truth (part 2)

* * *

Jack stood up hurriedly, trying to make some sense of the numerous thoughts racing around his head, "If Da Silva has a search warrant, that means he thinks he'll find something. Or he's just fishing," he said, hearing Joe yell out his name. Jack then looked at Rachel and commented, "At least he won't be surprised to see you here, Rach. Unless you're uncomfortable with it and want to sneak out the back?"

Rachel shook her head, "No Jack, I'm staying here."

"Okay," Jack replied, finally making his way to the front door where he was immediately confronted by Joe Da Silva and his squad of goons upon opening the door.

"Out of my way, Christey," he said aggressively, pushing past Jack with equal aggression. "We have a warrant to search your house for evidence in connection with the murder of Graham Denton," Joe strode down the hallway and into the living room, seeing Rachel, nodding at her in the smallest form of acknowledgement, "Detective Goldstein, I'll ask that you stay to one side while we execute the warrant. Thank you."

Rachel didn't say anything. She knew exactly how search warrants worked.

Jack returned to the living room, closely watching as Da Silva and three other officers ransacked his house without a care in the world. "I hope you're going to put everything back where you found it when you've finished," Jack remarked flippantly, knowing they would do the opposite. He'd done the same thing many times himself during a search warrant - not caring.

"Search upstairs," Joe called out, pointing upwards. The three officers followed his instructions and headed up the stairs, their footsteps loud and heavy.

"You wanna tell me what it is you're looking for, Da Silva?" Jack soon asked impatiently, standing next to Rachel, "Or what it is you think you'll find?"

Joe briefly looked up from his own search of Jack's property, telling him frankly, "I told you Christey, evidence connecting you to the murder of Graham Denton."

"And what _evidence_ would that be?"

Joe didn't bother to reply. Instead, he walked with obvious arrogance into another room and began searching, carelessly throwing items to the ground. It was as if he _wanted_ Jack to hear him making a mess of his things.

"He has no fucking idea what he's looking for, it's unbelievable," Jack said to Rachel, barely opening his mouth as he spoke in an attempt to not be heard by Da Silva. He started shaking his head in annoyance at what he was hearing around him, "What a prick."

Rachel grabbed his hand and held it for a few seconds, gently shushing him, "Don't Jack."

Jack looked over at Rachel, finding that she was staring back at him, her eyebrows raised a little. Where the hell would he be without her?

"I'll ask that you accompany me to the station for an interview, Christey," Joe cleared his throat noisily. Both Rachel and Jack saw that, behind his back, he was holding something in a plastic evidence bag, although neither of them could make out what it was. A frown immediately formed on Jack's face, but he didn't move. "If you don't come with me now, I'll arrest you," Joe then cautioned, his voice serious.

Remaining quiet, Jack took some deep breaths in an attempt to compose himself and finally followed Joe towards the front door as the other officers came down the stairs. Rachel was still standing next to the kitchen bench, wondering if she should go with Jack; if she'd be _allowed_ to go with Jack.

"Goldstein, you can come too if you want to," Joe called out, seemingly reading her thoughts, "But make your own way to the station."

—

Upon their arrival at the Water Police station, Joe directed Jack to the interview room. It certainly wasn't 'by the book' to do the interview there, and if Joe had it his way, it would have been conducted at the Sydney Police Centre where Homicide was based. But Jeff insisted. He also insisted that Jack not be charged with anything until forensics had examined the evidence.

"Have a seat, Christey," Joe told him, the spiel almost sounding way too familiar to Jack.

As Jack did what he was told, Rachel and Jeff started watching on from the viewing room. Rachel had no idea what was happening, having been kept in the dark, much like Jack.

Joe turned on the tape recorder and began by merely placing the evidence bag on the table. Jack looked down at the bag in front of him, finally seeing what was inside it: a rather large knife with what appeared to be dry blood on it. "Detective Christey… do you know what this is?" Joe finally sat down, placing his hand on the table near the knife.

Jack gave him a look, "Are you being serious right now? I can _see_ what it is."

"This knife was found in your study, detective," Joe told him, the arrogance in his voice obvious. He was confident he had his man. "Forensics are examining it for fingerprints and analysing some of the blood as we speak. And I'm betting the blood will be a match to Graham Denton's."

" _What_?" Jack asked, completely dumbfounded. "What do you mean it was found in my study? I've never seen that knife until now…" he paused, clicking his tongue, "You _found_ the knife, didn't you Da Silva? You've had it in for me since Denton was killed. How do I know you didn't plant this thing in my house?"

" _I'll_ ask the questions, if you don't mind Christey," was all he said in reply, still sounding completely arrogant. "I'd like to go back to the night of Denton's murder. In your initial statement, you said you were in bed, _by yourself_ ," Jack rolled his eyes and scoffed as Joe spoke, "But you've since updated this and said you were with Detective Rachel Goldstein on the night in question. And it was Detective Goldstein who Denton attempted to stab –"

"Are you going to get to the question?"

He ignored Jack, continuing, "And _that_ alone makes me think you had a good motive to kill Denton. You were angry because of the attempt by him on your partner's life. And as we now know, she's a bit more than your work partner, isn't she?"

Jack let out a fed up sigh and tried to reason with him, "Yes okay, I was angry with him because of what happened. Of course I was bloody angry with him! But if I _killed_ every single person I have ever been angry with, there'd be a lot of dead people."

Joe frowned and his eyes narrowed, making Jack wonder if he was possibly starting to believe him. But instead, he asked, "How did this knife come to be in your possession? In your house? With blood on it?"

"I _don't_ know!" he frustratingly exclaimed.

"Well I think I _do_ know," Joe stated, overly confident with his theory. "I think you were so angry, so full of rage, with Denton that you got up in the middle of the night, drove to his home and killed him. You then went to your house, where you put the knife in your study, perhaps you cleaned yourself up… and then made your way back to Detective Goldstein's house."

Jack stared at him through slit, hardened eyes, "Do you know how ridiculous that all sounds? You actually think I would be dumb enough to just _leave_ a murder weapon lying around my own house, do you?"

"You may not have disposed of it yet for a number of reasons," Joe suggested, and looked down at his watch. It was 9:42pm. "Okay. We're going to stop the interview there for tonight, while we wait until the morning for forensics to come back with their findings," he stood up and flicked off the tape recorder.

" _Interview_? How the hell can you call that an interview?" Jack too stood up, pushing the chair back with so much force that the legs scraped along the floor loudly and it almost toppled over.

Once again, he didn't bother replying to Jack's question. "Don't even think about shooting through, Christey," Joe simply advised him, his voice sounding cold and harsh, "This isn't finished yet."

—

When an angry Jack stomped out of the interview room, he saw Jeff and Rachel standing in the corridor, in quiet conversation. Using his eyes, Jeff hinted at Rachel that Jack was behind them, and then said, "I'll see you tomorrow Rachel," Jeff turned around and went to make his way down the stairs. He didn't acknowledge or greet Jack at all.

"Jeff!" Jack called out loudly before he got too far down the stairs. "You didn't tell Da Silva about the name I mentioned, did you?" he was pissed off and it showed in both his voice and his body language.

Standing motionless on one step, Jeff sighed noticeably, lowering his head as he did so, "No. I didn't get the chance to tell him, Jack. Besides when he was here this morning and now, Da Silva has hardly been here all day," he explained as quickly as he could and continued on his way.

Jack was left shaking his head. He only stopped when he felt Rachel's warm hand on his upper arm. Jack turned around to face her, trying to manage a smile. Even though it didn't convince Rachel, she kept her hand on his arm and said in a whisper, "Let's go."

—

Joe Da Silva was sitting in front of his desk at Homicide the following morning, wanting the phone to hurry up and ring. He was waiting for the forensics team to get back to him with the results from the bloodied knife he found at Jack's house. Joe was absolutely certain that Jack, in all his rage, had killed Graham Denton. When the phone finally rang, he answered swiftly and in hope, but it wasn't who he thought it was going to be.

"Joe, it's Jeff Hawker."

"Yes Jeff?" Joe tried not to sound annoyed, but it didn't exactly work, "I'm waiting for a phone call from forensics, so I can't be long…"

In his office, Jeff was sorting through some papers on his desk. "I won't keep you," he began, "I just wanted to let you that there may have been a breakthrough in the the passport scam that Detectives Christey and Goldstein were initially investigating. A name of a person of interest. Senior Sergeant Blakemore searched the COPS Database this morning and some discoveries were made that I think you should –"

"I have no doubt that it's interesting Jeff, and I'm sure that however the name was brought to your attention is even more interesting. But I don't think it will surprise you that I have more pressing matters at the moment," Joe interrupted arrogantly, and he hung up the phone.

Jeff frowned, pulling the phone away from his ear, "Dickhead," he commented quietly to himself, almost sounding a lot like Jack.

"I take it that didn't go well," Helen guessed who Jeff had been talking to. She had entered the office just as he slammed the phone down into its handset.

"Da Silva is waiting for the call from forensics," he informed her, "But I got hold of them earlier this morning and asked if they could give us a ring with the results first. I guess we'll see if I managed to convince them soon enough."

"That's very noble of you, Jeff," Helen said with a small smile, asking, "I take it that means you now believe Jack is innocent?"

Jeff frowned at her question, "I never said _or_ thought Jack was guilty. Yes, he's an officer who is under my command, but I've just wanted to remain impartial during the investigation, especially when it comes to Da Silva. That's all."

"Do you think Jack will see it that way?" Helen asked him in a meaningful manner, but before he had chance to reply, she turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Jeff exhaled sharply, watching Helen disappear into her own office. As much as he didn't want to admit, Helen was right. As usual. But admittedly, Jeff knew he hadn't done enough to defend Jack and it was about time that changed. He looked down at the pile of paperwork in front of him; Charlie Driscoll had a criminal record dating back to the early 80's and intriguingly, there was one police officer's name that stood out a number of times.

Joe Da Silva.

"Hmmm…" Jeff rubbed his hands over his face, feeling a little discouraged. He was in a difficult position with Jack and Joe. Both officers were well respected and had been in the police service for many years, but Joe in particular had a more 'perfect' reputation than Jack. Jeff knew that any alleged wrongdoing or allegations against Joe would be tough for a lot of his colleagues to believe and accept.

When the phone rang several minutes later, Jeff answered it with a little trepidation, but hoped it would be good news for Jack. After the short conversation, he hung up the phone, once again rubbing his face, "Shit."

—

Waiting around at home was never a strong point of Jack's. Although he'd never considered himself to be an impatient man, the last few days had really taken his patience to its absolute limit. He was pacing, back and forth, around his living room when his home phone rang. Jack answered it the way he answered his mobile, knowing that it would most likely be someone from work, "Christey."

On the other end, Jeff sounded worried as soon as he started talking, "Jack. I just got off the phone with forensics. The blood on the knife was a match with Denton. But there were no identifiable prints on it."

"Hang on a sec Jeff, how come _you're_ the one who's calling me with this information and not Da Silva?" Jack frowned, letting himself fall down onto the couch without caring how he landed.

"Forensics called me… out of courtesy," for some reason, Jeff didn't want to tell Jack that he'd convinced them to call him first instead of Joe.

Jack leaned his head back against a pillow. Inside, he was swearing and he could feel himself getting angry again, almost to the point where he was about to lose it. "Oh how thoughtful of them," he commented sarcastically, "So… Da Silva will be here soon to arrest me I take it?"

Jeff sighed heavily into the phone, taking a few moments before he replied. "I haven't spoken to Joe since before the call, but yes I'd say that's a strong possibility. I tried telling him about Charlie Driscoll this morning but he was too preoccupied to hear me out. So I'm going to send Mick and Rachel around to see if they can have a chat with Driscoll. See what she has to say."

"Rachel?" Jack sat up slightly, alerted by her name, "Should she be involved with this?"

"Who else have I got here, Jack? There's no one. You're suspended, Helen's busy at the moment, the Nemesis crew are busy…" Jeff began to rant, "I can't say I want Reilly going to see Driscoll by himself. She's not exactly known for her love of cops if her criminal history is anything to go by."

Jack pulled the phone away from his ear and grunted. He was pissed off with himself for letting everything get this far. When he returned the phone to his ear, Jeff asked him if he was okay. "I'm alright, Jeff… just…" Jack sighed. He wanted to make sure that Jeff told Mick to look out for Rachel but decided against it; he could tell Mick himself.

"We'll sort this all out, okay Jack?"

He then heard Jeff hang up, and as he got off the couch to grab his mobile, Jack exclaimed frustratingly to himself, "Bloody hell!" he wanted to punch something hard – or _someone_. Punching someone like Joe Da Silva in the face would be very satisfying, even if it was only a short lived feeling, Jack thought. He dialled Mick's number into his phone, hoping to get hold of him as quickly as he could.

"Reilly?" Mick answered after a couple of rings.

"Hey Mick, it's Jack. I spoke to Jeff… he told me that he's going to be sending you and Rachel around to see Charlie Driscoll…" Jack said with a sense of urgency as he began pacing his living room again, anticipating a knock at the door at any moment.

"Yeah, that's right. We're looking up her residential and work addresses on COPS now."

Jack took a few shaky but deep breaths in and out, before getting to the main reason he'd called, "Okay. Can you just… can you look out for Rachel for me? Please?"

"Don't worry Jack," the younger detective assured him, smiling a little to himself at Jack's protectiveness of Rachel, "I will."

Jack let out a small sigh of relief; at least he knew that Rachel should be okay in Mick's relatively safe care. What bothered Jack the most was that everything had gotten so out of hand that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it anymore. It was out of his control. And although Jack _did_ have faith in his colleagues, he knew that without any evidence that proved he _didn't_ kill Denton, he was in deep shit.

—

The apartment listed as Charlie Driscoll's residential address was in a small, dingy looking area of Summer Hill. As soon as Rachel and Mick were parked out the front, Mick asked, "Do you want to stay in the car while I go see if she's home?" he was completely ignoring the fact that Jeff wanted them to see Charlie together.

Distracted, Rachel was daydreaming a little, looking out the driver's side window at nothing in particular, but upon hearing Mick's question, she turned her head and gave him a quick glare. "No, I'm coming. Why would I drive all the way here just to sit in the car? Jeff said –"

"I _know_ what Jeff said. I wanted you to have the option of choosing whether you came in with me or not," Mick told her as he grabbed the handle and got out the car. Before he shut the door, he added with a good amount of confidence, "I'm sure I'll be fine on my own."

Rachel took the keys out of the ignition and shook her head. "Alright. What did Jack say to you?" she asked, she too getting out of the car.

"Nothing," Mick replied, but the confidence disappeared and Rachel stopped abruptly to give him a look. "Okay, okay. He asked me to watch out for you… that's all!" the look of disbelief stayed on her face, "Oh come on, Rachel! You can't blame him, can you? He's worried."

Rachel didn't answer him and instead, she started walking along the footpath towards the apartment building. Mick stood watching her for a moment before he followed, catching up with her quickly before she got to the main door. "Number 34," Mick confirmed to Rachel and she pressed the button which corresponded to the apartment.

"Yes?" a woman's voice said through the speaker a few seconds later.

"Detectives Michael Reilly and Rachel Goldstein… Sydney Water Police," Mick announced, "We'd like to speak with Charlie Driscoll. Is she home?"

There was a slight but noticeable pause, before the woman replied, "Yes," and they heard the main door unlock, "Come on up."

After walking up three flights of stairs, Mick and Rachel arrived at number 34. Rachel knocked firmly on the door and within seconds, a woman was standing in front of them. She was noticeably shorter than both detectives, with cropped, dark hair and hazel coloured eyes.

"Charlie Driscoll?" Mick asked, despite immediately recognising her from her police 'mug shot'. He and Rachel then produced their badges.

"That's me," she said rather smugly, "Sydney Water Police, huh? What can I do for you?"

"We'd just like to ask you a few questions. Is it okay if we come in?"

Charlie opened the door as far as it could go, allowing the detectives to enter her apartment. It was nicely decorated inside the apartment; a stark contrast to the outside of the building. Charlie focused her eyes on Rachel, commenting, "Rachel Goldstein… your husband is Jonathan Goldstein, is that right? He's a lawyer?"

" _Ex_ -husband," Rachel was quick to correct her, "But yes, that's right. Why do you ask?"

"Oh I see him around every now and then, you know…" Charlie answered in a coy manner, not giving much away. "So. What can I help you with?" she soon asked, finally looking over at Mick and adding cockily, "I'm not sure why my name would come up in anything to do with the police. I'm _clean_ these days."

Mick cleared his throat, "Your name has come up in regards to a recent passport scam. You may have heard about the investigation."

Charlie nodded slowly and folded her arms across her chest. "I've heard about it, yes. Hard not to. A man involved in the scam was later killed by a cop," she paused, and in a more sinister tone of voice remarked, "By one of your own I do believe, actually. Jack Christey."

Rachel frowned at her mention of Jack's name and the way she had said it. The smugness coming from Charlie was beginning to annoy her.

"But I still don't understand how my name has been connected with this," she said when the detectives stayed silent for a few seconds, "If you think I'm involved somehow, you're greatly mistaken."

"Your name has come up a couple of times," Mick advised her, thinking back to the interview he and Helen conducted with Graham Denton and his mentioning of a woman named Charlie being involved in the scam. He now had no doubt that Charlie Driscoll was who Graham meant. "Why would it be mentioned if you weren't involved?"

Charlie shrugged loosely, "I don't know. A lot of people don't like me, I guess," she glanced across at Rachel, as if she wondered why she had been so quiet. "Do you want to get to the point of why you two are here? I thought the Feds were investigating the passport scam now, not the Water Police."

Mick decided to ask Charlie something he knew he probably shouldn't be asking, "Okay," he said with a single nod, "Where were you in the early hours of last Friday, Ms Driscoll?"

Rachel frowned again. The expression on her face suggested she wasn't too happy with where Mick was going with his line of questioning. She knew exactly what night he was speaking of; it was when Graham Denton was murdered.

Even though Charlie knew she wasn't obligated to answer him, she felt compelled to, "I was here. _All_ night."

"Can someone vouch for that?" he quizzed.

"No. I suppose you'll just have to take it or leave it, detective."

—

Walking back to the car, Rachel couldn't hide her agitation at Mick and started to rant, "Why did you ask Driscoll where she was on Friday? If she is involved in the passport scam, and _did_ kill Denton or at least arrange for it to happen… she's probably going to know that we're onto her now."

"Well, if Driscoll _didn't_ have anything to do with it then she's got nothing to worry about, has she?" Mick retorted as they got into the car, although he could see why Rachel was annoyed. He buckled up his seatbelt and continued, "She was always going to be suspicious of why we were there in the first place. So why not ask her things we shouldn't?"

Rachel sighed deeply and started the car. She was too tired to argue with him.

"Hm?" Mick tried to get a response from her.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever."

It wasn't quite the response Mick was expecting or perhaps wanting to hear from Rachel. He thought she'd at least defend herself, even if it was just a little. "I know you said you weren't going to fight me anymore, Rach, but that was pretty despondent of you!"

Rachel knew exactly what conversation he was referring to and she wasn't going to bite. Thankfully for her, Helen's voice sounded through the radio at just the right time, "Rachel… Mick…" she was rather informal, "Jack's about to be arrested."

—

Rachel and Mick made it to Jack's house in time to see Joe Da Silva and another Homicide detective leading Jack out the front door. Jack wasn't in handcuffs, but that soon changed very quickly. "Oh come on Da Silva, you and I both know I don't need these on…" Jack was in the middle of telling Joe as Rachel and Mick got out the car.

Joe saw the two Water Police detectives briskly walking towards the house. "You're a violent criminal, Christey," he responded with some hostility, of the handcuffs, making sure that Rachel in particular heard him.

Jack rolled his eyes, managing a "Ha!" under his breath.

"I wouldn't be getting in our way here, detectives," Joe then warned, looking at Mick and Rachel through harsh eyes. "We have a warrant for the arrest, it's all above board," he added dryly, "In case you were wondering."

"I don't doubt that, Joe. You'd never do anything that wasn't above board," Rachel replied with equal dryness, to which Jack smirked.

Joe's non-response was to shove Jack into the back seat of his car, slamming the door once Jack was seated. He walked around to the driver's side, and said to Rachel, "I'll be charging Christey and he'll be taken to the cells at the SPC before any bail is organised. _If_ it's granted. But don't think that because you're his _girlfriend_ you'll be getting any special privileges."

Rachel's eyes narrowed at the snide comment and she watched as he drove Jack away. She turned around and headed back towards the car, noticing Mick staring at her with an eyebrow raised in question. "Why were you looking at me like that?" she asked him when they were both in the car with the doors shut.

"I didn't know Da Silva knew about you and Jack."

Rachel scoffed. "I'm going down to the SPC, but I'll drop you off at work first, okay?" she started the engine and pulled away from the curb, the tyres screeching loudly as she did so. When Rachel got to the Sydney Police Centre by herself about 45 minutes later, she was greeted by an ever so smug looking Joe Da Silva.

"I knew you wouldn't waste much time in getting here, Detective Goldstein," Joe commented, gesturing her to the 'Police Only' area. "But you're lucky I'm in a good mood because I'm going to let you see him," he said of Jack.

Rachel silently followed him to the cells, which were in a quiet corner of the building, away from everyone and everything else. She was unsure of where Jack was at first, but Joe soon pointed to the cell that was going to be Jack's temporary home until he was released on bail.

"I'll give you five minutes."

Jack stood up when he heard Joe's voice, knowing that someone, probably Rachel, was there to see him. He walked to the metal-barred cell door, grabbing hold of the bars with both hands, "Rach…" Jack said as soon as he saw her, "How did you and Mick go with you know who?"

Rachel stepped closer to the bars that were separating them, "She didn't say much. Predictable really. But we'll get her, Jack. We will," she said in a hushed voice, not wanting Joe to hear her. "After seeing her today, I don't think I have any doubt that's she's somehow involved. She was so sure of herself… a bit too sure, you know."

Jack nodded. His eyes then lit up as he came up with an idea he hadn't really thought of before; something that hadn't yet come up during the investigation, "What about a witness? I know Denton died in the early hours of the morning and the chances of it are slim… but someone _may_ have seen or heard something."

"That's definitely possible Jack," Rachel replied with some enthusiasm. She reached out and gently touched one of his hands, "Although you'd think Da Silva would have already spoken to the neighbours."

Jack lowered his voice, "Rach, this is Joe Da Silva we're talking about here. He's probably been cutting corners since he was old enough to use scissors."

"I'll get onto it as soon as I leave here. Okay? It will be alright."

" _Only_ if Jeff lets you," Jack told her, sounding like he was back at work and her superior again. When she frowned at his words, he explained quietly, "It was easy enough for me to go and find Alex Grenville without Jeff knowing about it because I was suspended. But you on the other hand…"

"Time's up, Detective Goldstein," Joe's loud and intimidating voice echoed down the corridor, followed by his equally loud and thudding footsteps. "I said five minutes and it's been about six. Let's go."

—

When Rachel got to the station, she walked hastily up the stairs after greeting Tayler, who was on front counter duties. Mick spun around when he heard her walk into the office, and Rachel noticed that he had a pleased look on his face and a gleam in his brown eyes. "What's going on? You look happy," she said to him, sitting down at her desk.

"You'll never guess what happened while you were gone!" he exclaimed, quite cheerfully. "A witness came forward claiming to have heard loud arguing coming from inside Graham Denton's house on the night he was killed. A man's voice and a _woman's_ voice."

Rachel's eyes widened. It was almost too good to be true. She'd only just finished talking to Jack about the possibility of finding a witness, and now it seemed she didn't even have to start looking. "A _woman_?" she repeated, watching as Mick nodded with a smile. "Anything else about this woman? A description maybe?"

"Helen and I are going to speak to the witness as soon as she has finished doing something for Jeff," Mick began to explain. He saw Rachel frown slightly, "Jeff thinks it's best for everyone, you and Jack especially, if Helen and I go."

Although Rachel could understand the reason behind Jeff's decision, the small frown stayed on her face because she felt a little annoyed. "So he thinks it's okay for me to go and see Charlie Driscoll with you, but it's not okay for me to speak with this witness? Yeah, that makes sense."

"I don't know, I think Helen was busy this morning…" was all Mick told her in reply.

Rachel sighed. There was no point in letting the situation get to her, she thought, in an attempt to make herself feel less annoyed. The sooner they spoke with the witness, the sooner the chance that things would go back to normal.

—

Later on that day, Jack was pacing back and forth impatiently in his cell, much like he was doing in the moments leading up to his arrest. Only this time the amount of space he had was limited to roughly a 3x3 metre box. He heard two voices in the corridor and stood still, realising that they were arguing. He recognised one voice to be Da Silva's, but he didn't recognise the other.

"You can't just waltz in here and announce you're releasing Jack! Especially when he hasn't even been granted bail yet!" Joe yelled out angrily.

"Actually, I _can_ ," the unknown man replied firmly and seemingly with a great deal of confidence as well.

Jack frowned at what he was hearing. What the fuck was going on?

The two men then appeared in front of Jack a few seconds later, and the man Jack didn't know stepped towards the cell and introduced himself with a thin-lipped, but rather genuine smile, "Hi Jack. I'm Inspector Tony Brady, from Internal Affairs."

Jack was confused. Like many police officers of his time, Jack had the misfortune of dealing with Internal Affairs on numerous occasions, but he'd never met Tony Brady and he had no idea why he was there. "Internal Affairs? What's happening?"

Tony motioned for Joe to quickly unlock the door, and he did so extremely reluctantly. "You're being released," he said, then gesturing for Jack to come out of the cell. "There's been a new development in the case against you, and based on this development, we feel it wouldn't be right to keep you locked up in here."

"Hang on. What new development?" Jack asked, his watchful eyes on Joe as he walked away with his head held down, as if he was sulking.

"A witness."

_Rachel and Mick found a witness already?_ Jack thought, following Tony down the lengthy corridors and out of the building. "Are you going to tell me more or is that it?" Jack asked once they were standing on the edge of the footpath, near Tony's car, "You're just going to keep me guessing?"

"That's all you need to know for now," he responded, getting into the car, "It will be further explained to you once we arrive at the station."

The rest of the car ride was silent, except for sporadic chattering of voices over the police radio. Jack stayed deep in thought until they pulled into the Water Police station carpark. "Were you really allowed to have me released like that?" he asked inquisitively as they began walking down the path towards the building.

"Yes and no," Tony said, remaining relatively reserved with his answers.

Jack couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic, "Wow, you really are hinging everything on this witness, aren't you?"

Tony stopped walking, causing Jack to stop as well. "And _you're_ not going to tell me that this witness is lying, are you? That you really did kill Graham Denton?" he exclaimed, "I don't want to find out that this has all been for nothing. I'm putting my own arse on the line here too."

"No, I didn't kill Denton!" Jack said through his teeth. He paused before he continued, "Why _are_ you doing this? You don't know me… I don't know you…"

"I guess you could say I _owe_ the Water Police. I owe Jeff."

"What for?"

Tony sighed loudly, not in the mood for explaining but knew he had to because he could tell Jack was the kind of person who wasn't going to let up. "A couple of years ago now, I had Frank Holloway charged with murder, after the murder weapon was found in his home. Jeff warned me that I could be making a big mistake. And it was later proven that the gun had been planted on Frank."

Jack raised both eyebrows in surprise, "So… now you're open minded to the fact that cops _can_ be set up, and have murder weapons planted in their homes by the actual killer or their accomplice?"

"Something along those lines," Tony replied, letting Jack walk in front of him as they entered the station, "Jeff and I will be speaking with you shortly, just to go over everything again from the very beginning. We've already had a quick chat to Rachel."

—

"Another interview with me?" Jack commented, walking into the dark-walled interview room and sitting down before he was told to, "You guys must be absolutely _loving_ this."

"Don't think of it as an interview," Jeff sat down opposite Jack, while Tony faced Jack but remained standing. "Think of it as a discussion," Jeff glanced down at the folder in front of him before looking back at Jack. "The witness who came forward earlier today… it seems he heard about your arrest on the radio and wanted to do the right thing."

Jack began to nod slowly. There were many thoughts and questions going around in his head, but he kept quiet, wanting Jeff to elaborate.

"The witness is a neighbour who confirmed that he heard an argument, loud yelling, coming from inside Graham Denton's house at about 3:15am, which fits in with the time frame the coroner specified as Denton's approximate time of death. The voices were of a woman and a man, and one can only presume the man was Denton."

"And the woman?" Jack asked curiously.

Tony took a few steps forward, speaking up, "Well, we've got an okay description from the witness who saw her leaving the house. We're hoping that he'll be able to recognise her voice too if we can get a lineup organised –"

"But the argument, the time and the woman are enough to get me out of that bloody cell?"

Both Jeff and Tony nodded at the same time. "As long as you're being truthful about it all, Jack," Tony advised him bluntly; he knew Jack initially lied about his alibi.

"If you're referring to the fact that when all this shit first happened, I didn't say anything about Rachel and where I was…" Jack said, his eyes switching between both men, "I was only wanting to protect her from this… and…" he shrugged, knowing that in hindsight he should have been completely honest from the start.

Jeff quickly looked in Tony's direction and then back at Jack. He had never been keen on relationships between police officers within the same unit, but for some strange reason Jeff was slowly getting used to the idea of the two detectives together. Perhaps because he could sense that there was a genuine care between them.

"I _didn't_ kill Denton," Jack stated emphatically, for what felt like the millionth time.

Tony had interviewed and spoken with _many_ police officers during his nine years at Internal Affairs, and most of the time, was quite confident in his ability to tell whether someone was lying to him or not. This time, he was sure that Jack was telling the truth.

"Does this mean I can come back to work?" Jack asked in hope, when no one else had spoken for about 20 seconds.

Jeff nodded, "Yes Jack, your suspension will be lifted. However I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you're not to be involved in any way with the ongoing investigation, and that also includes not talking about it. I _know_ about your little visit to Alex Grenville the other day, and if something like that happens again, you'll be back on suspension quicker than you can blink."

"And Da Silva, what about him? What about the knife?"

Tony took another small step forward, "I won't go into all the details because you don't need to know them, but Internal Affairs will be conducting a separate investigation into his policing methods."

Jack felt relieved, but he was mostly pleased knowing that Da Silva should get what he deserved soon enough. "Good," he simply responded.

—

When Jack left the interview room, he went straight to the detectives office, entering quietly. "Hi," he said to Rachel, who immediately lifted her head when she heard his voice. "Remember me? I'm the guy who normally sits at the desk to your left."

"Hmm vaguely. What was your name again?" Rachel grinned at him.

Jack smiled, and then silently indicated for her to follow him through the door that led to the balcony. Outside, the sun was beginning to set; the main ambient light coming from inside the station and the city skyline in front of them. It was the kind of setting that Jack wanted to share with Rachel every day. "I need to tell you the truth," he began in a low murmur, standing next to the handrail.

A confused look flashed upon Rachel's face and she asked, almost worriedly, "The truth about what?" she stepped closer to him.

"How I feel."

The look of confusion remained on Rachel's face, "Hold on Jack," she interjected, a little nervous about what he wanted to say. Talking about feelings had never been something Rachel was very good at. "I'm not sure this is –"

Jack interrupted what Rachel was saying by shaking his head and raising his hand slightly. He brushed some wayward hair from her face with his fingers, and then quickly looked around, making sure no one was near by. He didn't want any interruptions, not again. "I love you so much, Rachel," he said with the utmost intent.

Rachel's nervousness became obvious as she fiddled with some of the buttons on Jack's shirt.

"It's okay if you don't know what to say. Or if you don't want to say anything. I understand," Jack continued, smiling at what she was doing. He knew that she'd had some tough times with relationships in the past and the last thing he wanted to do was make things difficult or awkward for Rachel, even though telling her how he felt probably did both those things.

_This is madness_ , Rachel thought, _just say it_. _Just say it back to him_. She finally stopped fiddling with the buttons on his shirt and took a deep breath in, "I love you too Jack…" she said, very quickly feeling a sense of relief.

Jack was surprised. He was _happy_ , but completely surprised by her response. He kissed Rachel's forehead, in between some strands of her fringe, "I've been in love with you ever since we met, you know," he whispered, keeping his face close to hers.

Rachel tried to suppress a chuckle and said quietly, "Oh you have not!" but when Jack nodded a couple of times, she asked, "Since we met in the meal room at work? And you asked me if I'd 'done a few rape cases'?"

He nodded again, noticeably confident this time, smirking as he answered, "Uh huh. Since then."

The gathering storm inside Jack had finally settled.

* * *

_The End_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could have continued this further, but decided to leave it this way so you can make up your own mind on who the killer was! ;)


End file.
